BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened
to break up National
Grid’s stranglehold over natural
gas in Brooklyn last week
amid their ongoing war over a
hotly contested pipeline , which
has left would-be customers
without gas for more than
three months and counting.
“If National Grid is unable
to provide safe, affordable
and reliable service to existing
customers, or is unable to
properly plan so that it is able
to serve new customers, I direct
you to consider alternatives
to National Grid as franchisee
for some or all of the
areas it currently serves,” the
governor wrote in a letter to
the Department of Public Service
on Aug. 27.
The British-based utility
company — which operates
under a state-granted monopoly
over gas service in Brooklyn,
COURIER L 14 IFE, SEPT. 6-12, 2019
Queens, and parts of Long
Island — announced a moratorium
on accepting new customers
beginning in late May,
shortly after state regulators
put the kibosh on Nat Grid’s
scheme to construct a 23-milelong
pipeline off the coast of Coney
Island that would transport
hydrofracked gas from New
Jersey to the Rockaways.
National Grid claims it
needs the added supply in order
to meet increasing energy
demands, but local leaders accuse
the gas purveyor of using
local businesses as pawns
in its power struggle with the
state.
“National Grid does not
have a supply problem. They
have a greed problem,” said Coney
Island Councilman Mark
Treyger. “They’re holding people
hostage in the middle of this
bureaucratic tug of war.”
And as the gas company’s
moritorium approaches its
third month, Kings County
business owners are starting to
feel the squeeze.
One aspiring restaurateur
fi nished construction of a Mexican
eatery in Prospect Lefferts
Garden in May, but has
been unable to open because of
National Grid’s long-running
embargo.
“I’m ready to open. I have everything
set up and ready to go.
If I could get gas, I’d be open,”
said Onishka Camarena. “If
I don’t get gas I’ll be done. I’ll
have to give it up... Everything I
worked for is going to be out the
window.”
Camerena has pleaded with
the energy giant to lift the newcustomer
freeze and supply
gas to El Jeffe — on Parkside
Avenue between Flatbush and
Ocean avenues — but they’ve
instead shifted blame, directing
her to the New York State
legislature.
“They tell me to contact my
state representative,” she said.
“For what? My state representative
didn’t help me open a
restaurant.”
During some peak-usage
hours, National Grid fails to
meet its demand using its own
supply, forcing them to purchase
energy from other suppliers,
which cuts into their bottom
line, according to one local
state rep.
“The business model of
National Grid — their profi t
model — is that they want to
own the pipes, and control the
gas that they are distributing,”
said Assemblyman William
Colton (D—Midwood). “And
they therefore want to build a
new pipeline which will cost a
billion dollars.”
Power move
Cuomo fi res back at National
Grid for leaving hundreds of
Brooklynites without gas
National Grid is denying any new gas customers until state regulators approve a controversial pipeline off the
Coney Island coast — leaving small business owners in a bind. Photo by Derrick Watterson
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