Bullying tactics won’t be tolerated

When New York regulators blocked construction of the Williams Pipeline, a $1 billion natural gas conduit that would have run from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and New York, in May, National Grid imposed a moratorium on downstate areas, claiming that without the pipeline, they were not able to meet increasing energy demands in the area.

No matter how you slice this, National Grid’s action comes off as retaliatory and, in sports parlance, sour grapes.

That’s what prompted Gov. Andrew Cuomo to call the move extortion Thursday.

“Either National Grid was grossly negligent in relying exclusively on the speculative construction of a private pipeline to meet the demands that it was statutorily required to provide,” Cuomo wrote in a letter to National Grid’s CEO and president, “or National Grid deliberately defrauded the people of the state by not developing or pursuing existing supply options to force approval and reliance on a private pipeline to further their business interests at the cost of the customer.”

In either case, National Grid’s action violates the company’s certificate of operation because utility companies are supposed to serve in the public interest. There are 1.8 million customers in New York City and on Long Island, the moratorium area served by National Grid. Developers have been unable to provide gas to new buildings, business owners cannot obtain requested upgrades and homeowners have had to fight with the utility company to get suspended gas service restored.

National Grid should not be allowed to jeopardize progress and necessary home service by holding the population of an entire city hostage. This all comes down to money. Cuomo was right to send National Grid a formal notice to revoke its license to operate in New York.