Con Ed’s Natural Gas Moratorium Would “Unequivocally” Halt Development in Westchester, Local Officials Warn

A lot is on the line for Westchester County as it eyes a Con Edison natural gas moratorium that could halt all new connections starting March 15.

In response, the Business Council of Westchester immediately convened a high-level task force of major developers that will continue to advocate for both short- and long-term solutions.

During the NYS Public Service Commission’s recent public hearing on Feb. 13, mayors from White Plains, Yonkers and New Rochelle offered testimony in regards to how this would impact development in their cities – and it was bleak.

Click here to read more from the Westchester County Business Journal.

County Executive George Latimer said his office had compiled a list of projects that could be lost due to the gas moratorium. These do not take into account the lost economic stimulus to the County:

• Residential Units to be built: – 16,000
• Average Residential Rent: – $3,000/month/unit or $36,000/year
• Lost Rental Income: – $576 million/year
• Lost Construction Jobs: – 25,000
• Lost Number of Residents: – 48,000
• Lost Number of new Residents to Westchester County: – 20,000
• Commercial Units to be Constructed: – 2,000,000sf
• Lost Rental Income: – $60 million/year
• Lost Number of Permanent Retail Jobs: 5,000-7,500
• Lost Number of Construction Jobs: – 3,500

“This move to abruptly and quickly halt new gas-line hook ups in Westchester County will be a tremendous blow to our economic development. This blow is particularly serious in our major cities where development has been the base of their economic revival efforts,” County Executive George Latimer warned in a statement to the NYS Public Service Commission.

John Ravitz, chief operating officer of the BCW, said that the state’s unwillingness to approve any new pipelines has clearly backfired – and now some really tough decisions must be made.

“We now have the worst of both worlds: no available new gas supplies and no viable alternatives,” he said.