Hamptons cable plan draws ire of environmental groups

East End conservation groups, homeowners and lawmakers are raising objections to PSEG Long Island's $45.5 million plan to place a new power line under a Hamptons nature preserve known as the Long Pond Greenbelt.

In public comments at a PSEG hearing on June 28, the groups urged the utility to consider an alternative to its preferred plan to use horizontal drilling to place a mile-long portion of the 69,000-volt power line under the southern end of the Greenbelt.

The area is home to rare coastal plain ponds, freshwater swamps and woodland that have been preserved a half-century.

“To me it’s just common sense that we should not permit underground drilling through the Greenbelt,” Sagaponack resident Meghan Moore, a director of Friends of the Greenbelt, said at the hearing. “The magnitude of the impacts is just too great.”

The project is part of a long-term plan by the Long Island Power Authority to bolster power and reliability on the South Fork through more than $500 million in transmission upgrades, from Westhampton to Montauk.

The work is being done even though the utility has approved a series of generation projects to boost power to the Hamptons, including the $2.013 billion South Fork Wind Farm.

LIPA also approved a demand-reduction program aimed at cutting power usage on the East End.

PSEG manages the grid under contract to LIPA, which owns it. 

The preferred cable route through the Greenbelt would be the shortest and least expensive option for completing the project, according to a LIPA presentation at its June board meeting.

The cable would augment an overhead line strung on larger transmission towers between LIPA’s substations in Bridgehampton and Buell Lane in East Hampton.

PSEG said in a statement the upgrades "are necessary" because of increased demand for electricity.

PSEG said its preferred route has "significant advantages" over four other proposed routes.

The company said all the alternatives require "working near" the Long Pond Greenbelt. 

Adding the new underground cable, in an already-cleared section of LIPA's right of way, won't remove the need for the existing transmission towers through the preserve, PSEG said. They will remain in place on the preferred route. 

LIPA said in a statement it was committed to a "fair and transparent process for all projects" and would "consider all comments" in the draft environmental impact review. 

LIPA said placing the line underground would be cheaper than using the existing right of way to place new large steel poles on the same path, which LIPA said would cost $56.1 million.

Diverting the new line further north or further south to avoid the Greenbelt would cost $78.6 million and $84.7 million, respectively, LIPA said.

Dai Dayton, president of the Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt, said the group would prefer PSEG to use the southern route along Montauk Highway.

"It’s constantly being trenched and at least it won’t destroy a nature preserve," Dayton said. 

The use of horizontal drilling is considered more environmentally friendly than open-trench cable installation, which PSEG will use on other parts of the line.

But opponents say the work itself and the possible impact of a high-voltage line under the preserve present too many risks to such a sensitive habitat.

Assemb. Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor), who said he hiked the trails with his father as a child, said at the June 28 hearing the path PSEG has chosen for the line, “should be the alternative of last resort.”

Thiele continued: "We should be looking at ways to avoid any impacts here in the Long Pond Greenbelt.”

Suffolk County Legis. Bridget Fleming (D-Noyac) also implored PSEG to change course.

“What you are proposing here is going to have a dramatic and I dare say unacceptable impact to our natural environment and it’s got to be rethought,” Fleming said at the hearing. 

Fleming also questioned the need for the cable project.

"Year in and year out, we have seen from LIPA consistent patterns of dramatic projections of future load requirements that are subsequently reduced," she said.

PSEG says the project is needed to fill a projected load-growth increase of 2% a year over the next decade.

In addition to around 4,000 feet of cable laid under the Long Pond Greenbelt park, the work will involve placement of 14 manhole covers along the 5.2-mile route and clearing of about an acre near LIPA’s Bridgehampton substation.

Environmentalists said that work could impact rare Eastern Tiger Salamander breeding grounds.

PSEG in its filing said it was discussing “potential mitigation measures” for the temporary loss of habitat, which it said will result in a “net conservation benefit.”

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

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