Long Island Sound power cable plan clears New York State regulatory hurdle

A proposed high-voltage power cable project stretching from western Suffolk to Westchester County and the Bronx took a step toward construction Thursday with a key approval from state utility regulators.

The project, Propel NY Energy, is a partnership of the New York Power Authority and the utility consortium, New York Transco, which had sought approval from the New York State Public Service Commission. The Commission's approval is required before any a major electric generation or transmission facility development can go forward.

Propel still needs approval for its environmental management and construction plans. The Commission is reviewing them, the agency said in a news release Thursday.

The $3.26-billion project would consist of nine miles of cable under Long Island Sound. Eighty more miles would be buried underneath the Island, along with several new substations, all of it more than doubling Long Island’s power import capability.

In the release, Commission Chair Rory M. Christian said commissioners granted approval after weighing "a thorough record demonstrating that this critical infrastructure project meets our statutory siting standards and will help provide needed power downstate."

The commissioners wrote in their 52-page order that the project was backed by an array of environmental, business and labor groups from Nassau County and elsewhere whose public comments emphasized the need for "grid modernization, the integration of clean energy to achieve state climate goals, job creation, and other economic benefits."

Some of those supporters said the project would provide needed resilience against extreme weather and growing energy demands.

North Shore residents and municipalities, including the Village of Sea Cliff and several area school districts, have criticized the proposal, citing environmental concerns over waterways, including Hempstead Harbor where the cable would pass, construction noise, traffic congestion and health concerns over the electromagnetic field the cable project would generate once finished.

But the commissioners found most of those arguments unconvincing, noting that, in general, opponents "do not provide any evidentiary support for their positions, such as studies or expert analysis."

While some impacts, such as construction noise, are "unavoidable," they wrote, the project plans will minimize them "to the extent practicable."

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.