Supervisors in 3 Nassau towns raise concerns about planned Propel power cable project

Three Nassau County supervisors whose towns would be crisscrossed by a proposed series of new high-voltage power cables have written to the state Public Service Commission to express "serious concerns" about the project’s costs, potential business disruptions and health impacts.

The letter comes as the New York State Power Authority and New York Transco, which are developing the $3.26 billion Propel NY Energy project, filed paperwork Thursday saying they had concluded a joint settlement agreement for the project.

The settlement does not include any of the Nassau towns or other local municipalities. It does include several state agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and Markets, the City of New York and the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.

Aspects of the 90-mile cable, which would span from western Suffolk and Nassau, the Bronx to Westchester, still awaits needed approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In their letter to the PSC, Supervisors Joseph Saladino, of Oyster Bay, Jennifer DeSena, of North Hempstead, and John Ferretti, of Hempstead, echoed the concerns they said they’d received from residents, firefighters, environmentalists and others requesting "transparency" about the project. Business groups, unions and green-energy advocates support the project. 

The supervisors want their issues addressed before the so-called state Article VII application for the project can proceed. A joint proposal as part of that process could be released in days or weeks, before a PSC review and the issuance of a certificate to start construction.

A spokeswoman for the PSC said the agency couldn't comment on the letter because it "has not yet received the referenced letter through any of our correspondence channels."

In a statement, NYPA spokeswoman Susan Craig said, "From day one, the Propel NY team has provided transparent and fact-based information to communities."

She added: "The reality is that New York, and Long Island in particular, faces critical power reliability challenges and without Propel NY, costs will continue to rise while reliability declines. We remain fully committed to delivering Propel NY efficiently, effectively, and with robust community safeguards in place."

The supervisors said projects such as Propel can "carry significant costs," and they want a "transparent breakdown of the total costs that will be borne by Long Island ratepayers, as well as the projected impact on average ratepayer bills."

Newsday has reported the $3.26 billion project, for which the state has already begun collecting funds through rates, will cost average ratepayers across the state around $2 a month. 

"Our residents already shoulder some of the highest utility rates in the country," the supervisors wrote. "What’s more, it is essential that the specific source of the energy carried by these new lines and, more importantly, which communities are the intended consumers be disclosed in a transparent and forthright manner."

Ken Lovett, a spokesman for Gov. Kathy Hochul, responded to the letter with a statement: "Rather than politically grandstanding, these town officials would be better off talking to their fellow Republicans in Washington about lifting the illegally imposed tariffs that are pushing up costs for everyone, finding ways to bring down gas prices at the pump that have soared since the start of the war with Iran, and stopping their assault on clean energy projects that are providing needed energy and thousands of jobs on Long Island." 

Propel was initially proposed as a high-voltage cable that could carry potentially excess wind power from offshore turbines, but attacks from the Trump administration have largely dimmed those wind-energy plans, and the cable is now promoted as a two-way power source that also could relieve the bottleneck created by the lack of power transmission between upstate and downstate at times of high demand. 

The supervisors said they would not support a project that "places the financial burden on Nassau County residents to serve interests elsewhere without clear, direct local benefit." Ratepayers across the state will pay for the project, with the costs allocated based on a utility's share of the total state load. Long Island's is around 13%. 

The supervisors also asked the state to address potential health impacts of the cable, noting there is "significant community concern regarding the prospective health impacts of electromagnetic field emissions from high-voltage 345kV lines."

Propel’s developers have said the lines all fall within health-safety standards for such cables.

They also are asking for assurances that the cables are not "directly linked to proposed battery energy storage systems on the North and South Shores," noting local fire departments, among others, have expressed "serious concerns over the dangers associated with these facilities."

Proposed batteries storage plants that had been planned for across Nassau County have been withdrawn in recent months, Newsday has reported, including one in Glenwood Landing. 

As for business disruptions, the supervisors in their letter noted that construction of the project "poses a threat to our local quality of life through traffic disruption." 

"We insist that any road opened for this project be restored to a high standard — ideally curb-to-curb — to ensure longevity and safety," the letter said.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.