NY Pipeline Moratorium Comes with Costs

News out of upstate New York indicates a tractor trailer carrying compressed natural gas overturned on Interstate 88 when swerving to avoid a deer en route from the Marcellus shale region of Pennsylvania.

During cleanup of the accident some 80 area homes were evacuated in caution of potential ignition of the natural gas. Additionally, portions of the interstate were also closed for several hours.

This accident – which also killed the driver of the tractor trailer – should signal to Governor Cuomo the auxiliary costs the public must bear while under a moratorium on pipeline infrastructure.

All signs point to truck transport of natural gas to be much less safe than other methods, especially natural gas pipelines. In fact, truck transit accidents have been found to be especially difficult to diffuse, with deaths and injuries “fairly common.”

Since going to war on natural gas pipelines, Governor Cuomo has subjected New Yorkers to a number of costs.

As many as 800,000 New Yorkers are living in communities without gas – hookups. The moratorium has also inflated prices. Despite already paying some of the highest utilities nationwide, a moratorium on natural gas infrastructure has pushed prices 90% higher than the average U.S. consumer. Furthermore, as cold weather subsided in 2019 Con Ed consumers – especially afflicted by the moratorium – paid two-thirds more than the national average.

The tragic accident on I-88 highlights additional costs imposed by leaving the risk on the road. Governor Cuomo should wisen-up to pipelines’ ability to take the risk off the road and offer reliable resource delivery to New Yorkers; the costs of doing otherwise are already too high.