New York's opposition to natural gas pipelines stymies new home construction

Politico:
Businesses, developers and homeowners looking to switch to natural gas from oil or get service for new construction projects in much of southern Westchester County are out of luck.

Con Edison has officially imposed a moratorium on new firm service in southern Westchester, something it has been warning state policymakers would happen for months. The gas utility will stop accepting applications for new service on March 15. The moratorium applies to communities in the county south of Bedford, Mount Kisco and New Castle.

Still, local officials expressed shock Friday.

“If this was brewing, we should have known about this a year ago,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale). “It’s going to devastate development in Westchester, including affordable housing initiatives, all economic development … It sounds at first blush that we have a major catastrophe.”

Paulin said development in New Rochelle, which has received $10 million from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s downtown investment program, could be stalled.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said it would stop a “building boom” in the state’s fourth-largest city.

“Developers are already telling us they can’t build more housing or commercial buildings until this is resolved,” he said in a statement. “Con Ed and the Public Service Commission need to implement an immediate plan to solve this.”

The moratorium is the result of high gas demand on the coldest winter days and the limited pipeline capacity in the area. While Con Edison proposed non-pipeline alternatives in an attempt to avoid blocking new gas hookups, the proposals were ultimately not enough to alleviate the need for a new pipeline.

"We are pursuing non-pipeline solutions and reduced reliance on fossil fuels through innovative, clean-energy technologies. We will also continue to explore opportunities for gas infrastructure projects that can meet New York State requirements," Con Ed states on its website with information about the moratorium. "However, until our efforts align demand with available supply, we will no longer be accepting applications for new natural gas connections in most of our Westchester service area."
...
Cuomo and his administration are largely responsible for this situation.  Their irrational opposition to natural gas production from upstate shale wells as well as their irrational opposition to pipelines from abundant gas supplies in Pennsylvania has come back to bite them.   Green energy can't begin to fill the needs of these developers and homebuilders.   When they talk about nonpipelined supplies they are likely talking about Russian LNG.  The Jones Act prevents them from getting US LNG because there are no merchant ships capable of delivering between Texas and New York.

Cuomo's anti-energy positions have screwed his state and its developers and home owners.

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