Montauk Residents Hopeful Of PSEG Decision

Montauk resident, activist, and town board candidate Bonnie Brady said this week the community is hopeful PSEG will back off on plans to build a new power plant on Flamingo Avenue in the face of overwhelming community opposition.

She said her own research has discovered a “good viable option near the old town dump that may require a little fill but is otherwise perfect. The road would go around the cap and there are no houses up there.”

“I do want to stress that we’ve heard the community, loud and clear, in its fervent opposition to the Flamingo Avenue site, and you can be sure that will be top of mind in making a decision. Our intent is to have a decision before or sometime in the early summer,” Gaier said.

After citizens balked at PSEG’s plans, the utility reconsidered. “PSEG Long Island is working from a list of five potential sites for a new electric-system substation in Montauk, including upgrading its existing facility on Fort Pond and a new site north of a town recycling center and away from homes,” said John O’Connell, PSEG’s vice president of transmission and distribution.

One resident suggested Eddie Ecker Park as a potential site. Brady termed it a “terrible idea.”

“I would hope that is off the table. I don’t think some people realize how much the Ecker family is held in esteem,” Brady said.

The plan to build a new substation in Montauk is part of PSEG’s $513-million effort to upgrade the entire South Fork grid to address a growing peak load. While the rest of Long Island is seeking peak-load reductions, the South Fork has been growing by more than two percent a year, and could see that increase to as much as 2.6-percent over the next decade, said Anie Philip, director of transmission and distribution planning.

rmurphy@indyeastend.com