Statement on Power Outages in Northwestern Queens
Statement on Power Outages in Northwestern Queens
As many of you know, Con Edison has been experiencing problems with electricity service in Northwest Queens, particularly Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Hunters Point and Astoria. The situation involves the loss of a number of feeders (which are like circuits) on the power grid that feeds energy to Northwestern Queens.
There are 22 feeders on the Long Island City network, the network that feeds power to Northern Queens. Throughout the day, between 8-10 feeders have been out, causing even more of a power crunch on the remaining working feeders - and growing fears of a shut down of more feeders. As the feeders blow, more pressure is placed on the remaining feeders. This creates a dangerous domino effect of more pressure on less circuits, causing more feeders to shut-down. As of 5 pm this evening, the peak time on this power grid, 9 feeders were out of service. As of 7 pm 8 feeders were out. This is a slight improvement and I am hoping that all of the feeders are back on line as ConEd works on them throughout the evening and night.
To date, the situation has not reached a borough-wide crisis due to the sacrificing of the residents and businesses of Queens. The situation should NEVER have come to this point.
For many of my constituents, this is now the third straight day without power - and that is unacceptable. Earlier this year, Kevin Burke, the Chairman, President and CEO of ConEd told the State Assembly that his company would be prepared for a hot summer. This week has proven that statement wrong. People have no air conditioning, no power and businesses are having to shut down due to a lack of electricity.
I am angry not only because of the lack of preparedness by ConEd, but also that this is threatening the health and quality of life of the people of Queens. I have been speaking to the Mayor's office and the City's Office of Emergency Management who are monitoring this situation minute by minute. I have also spoken to officials at the Department of Energy (DoE), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Northeast Power Coordinating Council.
Additionally, I have reached out to Kevin Burke at ConEd to get answers to the two key questions:
When will power be fully restored to the people of Queens?
What caused this situation and what will be done to ensure that this will never occur again?
At this point, my number one concern is a return of electricity. Once power restores I will be calling for an investigation into this black-out/brown-out.
If the facts uncover negligence by ConEd, new Federal laws allow tough punishments and fines to be levied against ConEd, and I will make sure these are administered.
Rest assured I will make sure that tough question gets real answers to prevent this from happening again.
As I learn more, I will continue to keep you updated. I am sorry that I cannot provide you more information at this point, but I will share it as soon as I receive it. For local information, you should also check into the City's website at www.nyc.gov.
http://crowley.house.gov/news/record.asp?id=852