A Tompkins County delegation was in Albany Wednesday in response to a letter from New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) to the NYS Dept of Public Service Commission (PSC) saying the company had reversed its stance on the necessity of compressors designed to provide safe, reliable delivery of natural gas in the Town and Village of Lansing, particularly to the Lansing schools.  The decision is the latest in a controversial plan that includes an indefinite moratorium on new natural gas capacity from NYSEG in the Village and Town of Lansing.  Tompkins County Legislator Deborah Dawson (Villages of Lansing and Cayuga Heights) was part of the delegation.

"The occasion for the meeting was NYSEG's recent letter to the PSC, stating its determination that the mini-compressors it had proposed in 2017 would not be necessary to address reliability issues in Lansing, at least not for the winter of 2018-2019," she says. "This decision appears to have been based in part upon the gas delivery system's performance over the very cold and protracted winter of 2017-2018:  despite the fact that gas pressure at the schools fell to around 27 psi, they experienced no reliability problems.  That experience, and NYSEG's most recent models for gas delivery, lead NYSEG to conclude that 25 psi and above is a safe level of gas pressure."

NYSEG claimed, in a letter last January, that the original $3.956 capital costs estimate estimate for the compressor project was low, and that the cost would actually be $5.1 million.  On Monday Dawson told Village of Lansing Trustees the change in NYSEG's story made it hard to form an informed opinion.

"It leads one to wonder how on-target any of the projections were," said Dawson.  "So we're going to Albany on Wednesday to meet with the Public Service Commission staff and NYSEG representatives and try to nail them down to some accurate projections about how much volume and pressure they need."

Lansing Town Supervisor said that opposition to a proposed pipeline that would have run through Dryden to bring more natural gas to Lansing 'stops at the Lansing town line'.  Dryden residents vociferously protested the pipeline, saying they would never grant easements on their properties.

"If you take one step forward over the line to Lansing, it's all pro," LaVigne said.

"At this point I don't know who is telling the truth and who is blowing smoke," Dawson said.  "It's very difficult to know."

"I'm not sure that I've arrived at a position yet, "she added. "I keep getting conflicting stories."


Last November the PSC sent a press release that said it had approved a $4 million natural gas compressor project, and issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) to solicit ideas for alternatives to a gas pipeline.

“Our decision today is based, in part, upon New York’s goals along with the significant public input we received from the local community keen to protect the environment and reduce the community’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. “With the environment in mind, this pilot project is intended to boost the gas distribution system’s ability to maintain reliable supply without the need to build a new gas pipeline.”

But the RFP didn't yield any useful solutions.  The Con Ed (Consolidated Edison power company in New York City) representative at Wednesday's meeting spoke about solutions his company will be coming out with based on a more successful RFP his company issued around the same time the NYSEG RFP went out.  Dawson says a second RFP that incorporates Con Ed's input may be sent out, but was not certain it will be.

"It will, of course be up to the PSC to make a final determination on the compressor question," Dawson says. "The responses to NYSEG's Requests for Proposals for non-pipeline alternatives appear to have been unsatisfactory for a number of reasons.  However, information relating to the proposals themselves is confidential and cannot be discussed."

The compressor was part of a two-pronged plan to safely provide natural gas to existing customers, who would be encouraged to switch to renewable energy or heat pump technology.  It was prompted, in part, by low pressure at the Lansing schools, which are at the end of the natural gas service area.

Before Wednesday's meeting Dawson told the Lansing Star, "The Tompkins County delegation is aware that the school has fallen well below the 42 psi rule of thumb for gas reliability at least once over the past winter.  Apparently, NYSEG's modeling allows the school to go as low as 30 psi, and the school fell to 27-29 psi twice, without causing a heating problem."

In addition to county representatives meeting in Albany included PSC, NYSEG, Con Ed, and New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) representatives.

"What does this mean for Lansing?  The moratorium here will remain in place for the immediate future," Dawson reported. "NYSEG's engineering representatives were not encouraging when asked about lifting the moratorium, since the moratorium has been the 'solution' to the reliability problem.  However, if a second round RFP is issued, better proposals could lead to solutions that would at least allow relief from the moratorium for commercial and industrial users whose needs cannot be met by non-gas power sources.  Our Legislature should be actively exploring every option to make sure that Tompkins County's transition to sustainable energy sources does not cost us even one more lost opportunity for economic development."

The Tompkins County delegation included County Planning and Sustainability Commissioner Katie Borgella, Legislators Martha Robertson, Anna Kelles, and me, Cornell Cooperative Extension Executive Director Ken Schlather, and Caroline resident Irene Weiser and Lansing resident Robert 'Bert' Bland.  Notably missing were LaVigne and Legislator Mike Sigler (Town of Lansing), who says that only people who do not support a gas pipeline were invited to go.

"Only people of like minds were included," he told the Lansing Star Wednesday. "They do not want NYSEG to choose trucking in gas.  I frankly don't see another option and that group hasn't really offered a solution.  NYSEG now says the low pressure is not a 'danger to citizens' as they said before.  That's not an exact quote, but the word danger was in there."

On Monday LaVigne said he was unimpressed with the reduction of the lowest acceptable safe gas pressure, saying that if heat fails at the schools the only plan is to send children home, which he said is a hardship for working parents who would effectively receive no notice.  He also complained that surrounding municipalities, well served with natural gas, would advocate to cut it off in Lansing.

"We have a bona fide need at the schools," LaVigne said. "That's been documented.  If we get another bad winter something bad may happen.  In my opinion this has bee politically tossed around.  It's hypocritical when some areas are wonderful with natural gas, and certain areas are not.  Either this is something that should be prohibited or it is something that should be utilized.  I am confused.  If you want to turn the valve off now and let nobody have natural gas, so be it.  It's interesting that people say they heat with natural gas, but you guys can't have it."

"This is what lawyers are for, and this is what judges are for," he said. "it's going to come to a point where push will come to shove and we have to represent the safety of our residents.  It's as simple as that.  Later is now.  We've been patient.  we've visited the PSC.  We've visited NYSEG.  That was two years ago.  Where are we now?  The compressors were going to address compression -- it had nothing to do with any expansion.  How do you get them to move?  I don't know.  But we're looking at all options."

Sigler says the purpose of NYSEG is to deliver electricity and gas, and a solution for Lansing should be simple: the gas company should deliver gas.

"NYSEG has a monopoly because it supplies gas and electric to Lansing," he said. "Five years ago, it decided to not do that any more.  It's in their agreement, that they will supply gas for growth and the PSC has told them as part of the RFP to supply Lansing with gas for growth.  Now lets see them do that.  I've asked Ed LaVigne to see if he, (Lansing Town Planning Consultant) Mike Long and myself can set up a meeting with NYSEG and the PSC as well.  Ed and Mike did that a while back and it's time to do that again."

After returning from Albany Dawson said that the prospects for Lansing ever getting more natural gas appear slim.  She said NYSERDA has a rebate program for heat pumps, and she had been advised there is also a 30% tax credit available for heat pump systems, which provide both heat and air conditioning.

"I very much doubt that the moratorium will ever be lifted for residential heating - or for commercial and industrial heating, for that matter," she said.  "Heat pumps seem to be the future for residential heating in Lansing, and, eventually, for the entire County.  The gentleman who represented NYSERDA at today's meeting told me that his agency has a substantial rebate program for ground source heat pump installation that can significantly reduce the cost."

v14i28