Saturday, November 27, 2010

Should electrical wires go underground?


From the Daily News:

Elected officials are calling on Con Edison to bury outdoor power lines in Middle Village underground to prevent electric outages and potentially dangerous accidents during strong storms.

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn) spoke out about the issue Monday - two months after a tornado swept through the neighborhood and knocked down trees and power lines.

Queens has more miles of overhead power lines than any other borough, Con Ed officials said. There are no outdoor electrical wires in Manhattan.

Crowley said she has been requesting that the wires be moved underground since she took office two years ago.

But the $715 million price tag is just too high, Con Ed officials said. Each residential customer would also be required to pay $7,500 for the conversion, said Con Ed spokesman Allan Drury. Commercial customers would have to fork over $20,000 each.

The below ground-level system also would take up to three to four times longer to repair if a problem arose, he added.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Windbag Weiner speaks again. Hey, why not concentrate on the failing economy, mass transit, healthcare, and road infrastructure instead.

Anonymous said...

Remember the 2 week blackout in Astoria a few summers ago? One of the reasons it lasted so long was because all the utility infrastructure was underground. Underground electric cables also take a lot of abuse from road salt in the winter.

Joe said...

Good Idea they do this in N Carolina and parts of old Boston. It would also look great however I cant imagine the cost and time it would take to do it correctly in Queens. Never happen

Anonymous said...

Another useless press conference from those publicity hounds, Little Anthony Weiner and Dumb Lizzie Crowley. Do they expect the homeowners to come up with $7,500 and small businesses $20,000 so they can get more publicity?

These two are the King & Queen of Queens Crap indeed.

Anonymous said...

The amount of profit "Con" ed is astronomical and they want the customer to foot the bill. Aren't we already footing the bill? Lets open up some competition and then lets talk about footing the bill.

Al Centola

Liman said...

Another politician photo op. Putting the lines underground is extremely expensive. And if you do it for Middle Village, everyone will want it. Another big trough for the unions to feed at. Crowley and Weiner can talk all they want. It won't come out of their pockets... it will come out of the rate payers' pockets.

Anonymous said...

The amount of profit "Con" ed is astronomical and they want the customer to foot the bill. Aren't we already footing the bill? Lets open up some competition and then lets talk about footing the bill.

Al Centola

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Sure Al, you probibally follow the suggestions of those bright lights in Albany like Gianaris, that can't even run a legislature, but know everything about utilities.

Anonymous said...

No I did not say that, if you took time to read what I wrote, it was about the money, and how Con Ed wants to charge the property owners to run cables underground. I made no mention of following the clowns running this circus we call Albany.

Al Centola

Anonymous said...

Correction noted and apology given, Al.

Anonymous said...

Accepted and thank you,

Al