Transformer explosion lights up the sky
Cuomo, Con Edison vow to address equipment failure that led to ‘Astoria Borealis’
BY MARK HALLUM
Residents across the city, and
especially Astoria, were not the
only ones who got a kick out of
the transformer explosion that
happened at a Con Edison facility
in the neighborhood Dec. 27.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo held
a press conference Dec. 28 at
the Astoria Generating Station
— located at 31-01 20th Ave. —
regarding the explosion that
sparked the social media trend
#AstoriaBorealis and had people
across the city cracking jokes
about aliens.
“There was speculation
when people saw the blue light
as to what it might be,” Cuomo
said. “People from Queens tend
to be a little suspicious, there
was some rumors that it was an
alien invasion.”
The explosion caused a shut
down at LaGuardia Airport
for about an hour, and Cuomo
said back-up generators for
the airline hub is something
the state is going to explore to
prevent service shutdowns in
the future.
Providing enough backup
power to allow LaGuardia to
function at the same rate is
main challenge to this, Cuomo
said, and the main reason why
there is not already significant
source alternative power
currently in place.
“The equipment that failed
last night was a voltage detector,”
ConEd CEO John McAvoy said.
“That piece of equipment failed
in a very significant manner
and that resulted in... an electric
current going into the ground
which caused significant
damage... the system is
essentially in a normal position
now, so no significant issues
related to reliability and the
investigation and the corrective
actions to restore the equipment
to service is something that will
likely take another week.”
McAvoy did not expect
The blue aura from a transformer explosion in Astoria could be seen for miles. Screenshot of video courtesy of Frazier Newton
customers to see any other
disruptions in service.
Nobody was injured in the
incident, but it did raise questions
as to the safety of the facility such
as particulate matter emitted
into the air, which McAvoy said
does not pose a threat.
McAvoy said although there
was a normal level of danger to
residents in any other incident
involving smoke and fire, the
explosion did not pose any
real considerable threat to the
surrounding community.
With 130,000 volts being
produced at the facility, the
Astoria Generating Station uses
up 3,039,000 gallons of Number
6 petroleum fuel a year which
local law makers took a stand
against back in December 2016.
City Councilmen Costa
Constantinides and Jimmy
Van Bramer, along with state
Sen. Michael Gianaris, called
Gov. Andrew Cuomo jumped on the social media wave that was a
transformer exploding in Astoria, despite the event shutting down
LaGuardia Airport among other issues. Photo by Mark Hallum
on ConEd in 2016 to outline how
they planned to comply with
Local Law 38, which passed in
2015 and calls for an end use of
Number 6 oil by 2020.
Number 4 oil, also used
at the Astoria Generating
Station, is to be legislated out
of use by 2030.
The Astoria Generating
Station and the Ravenswood
Generating Station or Big
Allis, located at 36th Avenue
and Vernon Boulevard, both
use about the same amount of
Number 6 fuel, among other
pollutants, and has contributed
to why the areas surrounding
the plants have come to be
known as “Asthma Alley.”
Astoria and Long Island
City have two of the highest
asthma rates in the city and
the Astoria Generating Station
is rated one of the dirtiest
electrical facilities in the state
by the Environment New York
Research and Policy Center.
The Dec. 27 explosion could
be seen across the city and parts
of Long Island and New Jersey,
with many residents living just
a few hundred feet from the
scene taking video of the event.
Astoria resident Frazier
Newton lives close to the
plant and said the light from
the event — which lasted
just a few minutes — was
so bright he could not look
directly at it light while he
shot footage from his phone.
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