A few weeks ago, Con Edison had been doing work in my neighborhood in order to install a new natural gas main. Not only did it leave a large, gaping hole in the front of the house but the hole was never sealed. It’s been three weeks. Instead of a sidewalk, a large steel covering over the hole graces the house. Nevertheless, I found this sign posted a block away. Apparently, National Grid will also be installing a natural gas main but it is unknown if they will improve upon the current installed natural gas main, or if they will be installing one of their own. So far, Con Edison has 833,000 natural gas customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, and some parts of Queens while National Grid has 1.2 million customers in the rest of the city.
Switching to natural gas makes us more sustainable since it lowers our electricity bill, reduces our reliance on foreign fuels, and reduces carbon emissions by 27%. Yet based on this project, I can see why some people are reluctant to engage in such sustainable and resilient practices, even though they should. National Grid’s project was supposed to start since February 6, 2019 and last for 120 days but their trucks just recently showed up. What was the delay? It also makes you wonder how many agencies and state and federal oversight goes into one project to improve the infrastructure, especially since NYC’s natural gas comes from a bunch of privately owned companies from places like the Gulf Coast and Western Canada. Hopefully, the two utility companies are coordinating their activities. If not, I’m beginning to think there will always be construction noises and an excavated hole in front of the house. Guess that’s one of the trade offs we must make for cleaner energy.
I think this brings up the bigger question of why infrastructure takes such a long time in NYC, and probably the US as a whole. I’ve seen videos of infrastructure construction and whether it’s a sidewalk that needs repair, or a bridge that needs to be fixed in other countries, where this sort of repair only takes a few days, or even one day to fix. Meanwhile, we are so accustomed to seeing bright orange construction signs, scaffolding, and makeshift metal and wooden boards to cover up the ever so slow progress.