Con Ed Takes More Heat As Crews Fix Blackout Damage
BY LIZ GOFF

Con Edison crews descended on neighborhoods in Astoria and Long Island City last week, tearing up streets as part of an aggressive project to repair and rehabilitate the utility's aging underground electric system.

Crews rerouted traffic from 28th to 37th Avenues and from 42nd to 35th Streets while they replaced switches and cable and made repairs to Con Edison's Long Island City network, a spokesperson said. Authorities blamed failures in the network for last month's massive blackout in Northwest Queens.

"We have not yet found out why the system went down," said Con Ed spokesperson Alfonso Quiroz. "It's a puzzle we intend to put together in the weeks and months ahead"

Con Ed workers, along with subcontractors, are currently "updating equipment, making necessary changes in the system and replacing worn switches," Quiroz said.

Workers have also installed massive, new transformers underground at several locations, including 42nd Street from 28th to 30th Avenues - an area that experienced repeated outages during the July blackout, Con Ed sources said.

Utility officials are describing the work as routine maintenance and have refused to confirm if the workers are updating faulty equipment that could have added to the system breakdown that first made itself felt on July 17.

Meanwhile, Joseph Bruno, commissioner of the city Office of Emergency Management (OEM), disclosed at a City Council hearing on the blackout that Con Edison came "very close" to cutting power to the entire Long Island City network on July 19-which would have left at least 300,000 customers in the dark, sweltering heat-to prevent a breakdown that could have resulted in major damage to the agency's equipment.

Bruno said when Con Edison notified the OEM on the afternoon of July 19 that it was considering cutting power to the network, his greatest fear was that people would be stranded in subway tunnels. Bruno said he told Con Ed officials to give OEM as much time as possible before taking the system down to prevent thousands of subway riders from being trapped.

Bruno said OEM then immediately began to prepare for the possibility of a major blackout at rush hour on July 19 by asking the MTAfor assistance. The agency responded by arranging for buses to transport stranded Queens's residents home from their jobs in Manhattan if the lights went out, Bruno said.

MTA officials also notified the OEM that the agency would need from 30 to 60 minutes to move subway trains to nearby stations so straphangers wouldn't be stuck on trains and in tunnels, Bruno said.

Bruno described Con Edison's performance during the blackout as "inadequate," and announced the establishment of a city Power Outage Response Team comprised of police and firefighters, representatives of the Mayor's Community Assistance Unit and the OEM. Representatives from the unit will go door-to-door or do "flyovers" in areas affected by blackouts to correctly determine the number of people left without power, Bruno said.

"I'm very unimpressed by the way Con Edison handled things," Bruno told the panel. "Their performance was disappointing, to say the least."

Quiroz said the majority of power lines in Northwest Queens are located underground, making emergency repairs more difficult. "There are a few overhead lines in the area, but most of the power is generated through our underground system," Quiroz said.

The current repair and rehabilitation project is expected to last several days at each location, Con Ed officials said. Utility officials refused to comment on who will be responsible for repairing local streets, once the work has been completed.