With Little To No Fanfare, New Natural Gas Hookups In New York CIty Now "On Hold" -- May 20, 2019

This most incredible story is followed here.

A reader alerted me to this; a huge "thank you."

From ny1: National Grid ceases new natural gas hookups until pipeline is approved -- May 20, 2019.

From Watts up with that, May 19, 2019: :

The northeastern U.S.’s largest supplier of natural gas stopped processing new customer applications in New York City and Long Island after the Cuomo administration blocked a major pipeline project.

The moratorium is the second to hit New Yorkers in 2019 as a result of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s opposition to natural gas pipelines needed to meet growing demand in the state and New England.

“We are not processing new applications for any new customers,” National Grid New York President John Bruckner said Thursday. “We’ll continue to receive requests for service, but we’re not processing them.”

From the reader, also at risk:

• Belmont Park Arena: $1.2 billion sports arena for NHL hockey team along with associated retail / office facilities; on Long Island, Nassau County, just east of Queens
• Nassau Hub: a $1.5 billion, 600-residential units, office, retail project
• Ronkonkoma Hub: a $1.2 billion, 1,400-residential units, office, retail space

The reader also notes:

Although Manhattan and Da Bronx are yet to be officially cut off (different utility, Con Ed has franchise), Con Ed has already stated that they, also, expect to expand current moratorium already in place in Westchester to the rest of the city.

Almost half a million people live in government run housing in the city (the Projects). These residents almost exclusively use oil-fueled boilers for their heat and hot water. Expensive electricity is the source for cooking and drying of clothes without natural gas alternatives.

This will be a very, very interesting story to follow. The question is whether Governor Cuomo has crossed the "Rubicon"? A cursor scrolling through google searches/hits suggests if he has not crossed the Rubicon on this issue, he has come very, very close.

Think about this. Long Island has just lost Amazon HQ2 due to the leadership in Albany, NY. Now, the same leadership has put the entire NYC city area on notice that their leaders should now consider NYC and neighboring counties as no-growth cities. That is clearly the message I'm getting.

"Utility hook-ups" on Long Island are going to become the new "taxi medallions." 

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The Book Page

Having read Valiant Ambition, Nathaniel Philbrick, c. 2016, a biography of Benedict Arnold, has really helped me understand the "environs" of New York City and New Jersey much better.

For example, as soon as I saw the location of the new Belmont Park Arena at wiki, I immediately "recognized" the area. For those of us in "fly-over country," we only think of NYC as Manhattan. We forget about Long Island (Queens and Brooklyn) and neighboring counties, Westchester to the north and Nassau to the east.

Likewise, the Nassau Hub, a huge, huge deal. It's also located on Long Island, Nassau County, just east of Queens/Brooklyn and just southeast of Fitzgerald's West and East eggs.

Likewise, the Ronkonhoma Hub -- another huge deal. Will be built in four phases over seven to ten years. A huge project under Governor Cuomo. Why would he jeopardize it with the craziness of denying a "routine" pipeline expansion permit? Crazy. From wiki:

In 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the groundbreaking of a new $650 million development to create a Ronkonkoma Hub near the LIRR Line, similar to the hub in the neighboring Brookhaven.

Ronkonhoma is located pretty much in the center, both east-west, and north-south, on Long Island, in Suffolk County, east of Nassau County. Suffolk County is directly across the Long Island Sound from New Haven, CT.  

By the way, that completes the four counties on Long Island: Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk.