Connecticut, New York at odds over Sound cable

Greenwich Time ^ | 8/24/03 | Matthew Strozier

[Koblenz]

STAMFORD -- Despite last week's rhetorical barrage from New York officials who want permanent access to the cross-Sound cable, Connecticut officials continue to say the line is flawed.

Under a federal Department of Energy order, the 330-megawatt cross-Sound cable was turned on during the blackout and supplied power to Long Island, N.Y. It took an emergency order because an ongoing regulatory and legal battle in Connecticut had shut down the cable.

Gov. George Pataki and other New York officials are calling for Connecticut, specifically Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, to turn the cable on for good. Pataki said Long Island and Connecticut need access to the energy and accused Blumenthal of "mindless parochialism."

[Koblenz]

I think CT politicians are totally in the wrong about this one. The cable isn't deep enough, but there's a moratorium on them fixing it? CT politicans range from stupid to just insane. Even the so-called Republicans are opposed to this. Another question: doesn't CT import electricity from other states? If so, why are these politicans objecting to having this cable feed power to LI? Also, the power could run the other way if necessary.

[friendly]

This sort of insanity is precisely the reason for the black-out. I read about all this from Europe last week, where the US electricity grid fiasco was incomprehensible. The Europeans couldn't understand why local fiefdoms could stop power distribution like the Connecticut politicians.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If Shoreham was up and running this would be a far less contentious issue. Closing the $5,000,000,000.00 Shoreham plant before it delivered its first kiloWatt hour was Mario Cuomo's "Gray Davis Moment." No wonder the left loves him.

We have relegated management of infrastructure engineering projects to courts which these days are fond of data-free decision making. It's the Jason Blair school of management. You just pick whatever fantasy pleases you at the moment, just add some opinionating, stir and - presto - instant reality.

If written law doesn't determine the outcome of our elections, why should mere physics or economics determine the design of our infrastucture? Just issue a restraining order forbiding black outs, yer honor.

[Iris7]

The sentence I found most interesting was:

"He (Blumenthal) said Connecticut has little, if anything, to gain because the cable's capacity is sold to the Long Island Power Authority for years to come."

I have rarely heard a more clearly stated demand for a bribe. Politicians are what they are, and always have been. "Limited Government" was an attempt, since abandoned, to reduce the damage unrestrained politics cause.

[Crusader21stCentury]

There are no blameless politicians in this one(are there ever). Yes the State of CT wants a payoff. Yes NY officials closed a viable Nuclear Plant. They are all not worthy of the oxygen they use. Their interests are their own, not the people who they are supposed to represent.

[skinkinthegrass]

There are no blameless politicians in this one (are there ever). Yes, The State of CT wants a payoff. Yes, NY officials closed a viable Nuclear Plant.who paid for that plant? you know who. They are all not worthy of the oxygen they use. Their interests are their own, not the people who they are supposed to represent.

Looks like Capt. Nimby has raised his head...Liberals, Let them freeze and bitch in the dark, in Ky., some of the powerplants are coal-fired (for now, anyway) until the Eco-terrorist's political branch ('Rats/DNC/Rinos) shuts us down...its' for the chil'ren, you know...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I took a power systems course from the Head of R&D for LILCO in 1979. The power line was envisioned as a cash cow for LILCO. LILCO had, and continues to have, submarine cables to CT. The idea was for power generated elsewhere to be be funneled to NYC through LILCO. LILCO was to collect a fee for transmission. Nobody at the time thought that LILCO would become a net energy debtor, just a middleman for Consolidated Edison of New York. (New York City and Westchester County.)

When Shoreham was proposed, in the 1960's, the State regulators would not have accepted any alternative except a nuclear design. It was easily the most cost effective. Assorted luddites managed to create a enough regulatory turbulence and court-ordered intervention to drive the cost of the plant through the roof and delay opening indefinitely. Shoreham, was the prototypical NIMBY syndrome. Had it not been for Three Mile Island, it might have limped accross the finish line.

The death of Shoreham had disasterous consequences for Long Island's once robust economy and dire consequences for New York State. Long Island in the early eighties was a microcosm of California in the early aughts. Grumman has fled, Fairchild is dead, Long Island is little more than a suburb of New York City.