In light of the recent widespread outages from Tropical Storm Isaias, I am introducing legislation in the New York State Assembly to have the Public Service Commission study the feasibility and costs of burying power lines throughout the state.
How many times do we have to live through this nightmare with wind and rainstorms in the summer and fall and blizzards in the winter? It took the Great Blizzard of 1888 for New York City to bury its power and telephone poles.
The cost to bury power lines pales to the inconvenience and costs to individuals and businesses every time there is a major storm. Central Hudson reported that 115,000 customers lost power due to the storm. That included 24 percent of its customers in Beacon and 57 percent in the City of Newburgh.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This recurring problem will not go away by itself. We must explore new options.
Jonathan Jacobson, Albany
Jacobson’s district in the Assembly includes Beacon.
I think this is an idea worth exploring!
I have had a lengthy discussion on Facebook about this issue. Participants have been straightforward and rational. Some who have worked in utilities have raised serious and credible objections to burying power lines here. I believe they know what they are talking about and are not simply opposing what seems like a good idea because of industry affiliation. I have forwarded some of the materials they provided to Assemblyman Jacobson. I am afraid the idea of burying power lines is not going to get very far here, and that that is because of feasibility issues, not political ones. That said, I would love to see alternatives to losing power every time we have a serious storm, or to butchering the landscape, or to noisy, smelly generators. It would be great if we could all put our heads together in good faith and come up with some solutions.
What a waste of time. There is no one who has money for that type of project, especially since COVID-19 has destroyed the economy. Besides, how often do we lose power in the Hudson Valley? Buy a generator if you are worried about it. [via Facebook]
This is not a new idea: It’s been discussed for more than 30 years. If they had started 30 years ago, most of the transmission lines would already be underground. It is also safer. [via Facebook]