Just In! (from NY-GEO)

Below are G.E.T.’s top picks from NY-GEO’s weekly “Just-In” Newsletter. Just In! features three fresh news item summaries on the NY-GEO home page every Monday. NY-GEO members get the full newsletter, which includes an advanced look at the website articles, plus event listings and job openings and several bonus article summaries with links, usually on the Saturday before website publication.

“Natural gas was source of fatal Lackawanna house explosion, probe confirms – Buffalo News – Thomas J. Prohaska – Aug 9, 2021 – The explosion that leveled a Lackawanna home July 20, killing its occupant and seriously damaging two neighboring homes, was triggered by a natural gas leak. But the source of ignition for the gas remains undetermined and probably never will be known, City of Lackawanna Public Information Officer Charles D. Clark said…The gas leak was in the basement of Sanok (the deceased woman)’s house, the investigation determined. The basement contained a furnace and a hot water heater, Clark said.  In the explosions, a car in the adjacent driveway was blown into the house next door, “causing much of the damage there”. That second house has been demolished. National Fuel Gas, the local utility, had done an initial assessment, and shortly after the explosion had announced “nothing unusual and no evidence of system malfunction or leaking natural gas.” Read the full article here.

An aerial view of what’s left after an explosion leveled a home on Bedford Avenue in Lackawanna, killing 92-year-old resident , Wednesday, July 21, 2021. Derek Gee / Buffalo News

Buffalo’s Central Terminal Plan Includes Geothermal – “The Central Terminal, which closed after Amtrak left in 1979, is Buffalo’s last major architectural giant still to be restored, and the only one on the East Side. ‘It’s the most beloved building in Buffalo,’ said Monica Pellegrino Faix, executive director of the nonprofit Central Terminal Restoration Corp. ‘Addressing the Central Terminal is the most important thing we can do to symbolize that the economic opportunities Buffalo is experiencing is for everybody’…The plan calls for an underground geothermal system to support cooling in the summer and heating in the winter, and photovoltaic solar panels.” Full Buffalo News Article by Mark Sommer here – 4 minute read.

PSC Approves NGrid Rate Proposal – On Thursday, August 12 the Public Service Commission unanimously approved a three-year rate plan for National Grid’s downstate gas companies — the Brooklyn Union Gas Company (KEDNY) and KeySpan Gas East Corp. (KEDLI). From the PSC’s press release: “The Commission ruled that CLCPA requirements applies (sic) to this rate case and all future rate cases. Based on the CLCPA requirements, the Commission… directed the utility to discontinue natural gas marketing efforts and promotional programs, and provide educational information to customers about alternative heating options and the emission reduction requirements of the CLCPA. The goal is to have the utility sell less gas in the future, a clear-cut indication of what will happen at other gas utilities in New York State as CLCPA requirements take effect.  “ NY-GEO had signed on to the joint proposal, but also backed efforts by dissenting parties to address discrepancies between the proposal and the CLCPA (NY’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires a 40% reduction in statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Several parties to the negotiations refused to sign on, with many of them objecting to funding for the construction of the North Brooklyn gas pipeline.

PSC Chair Howard Emphasizes Climate Law Applies to Rate Cases, Overriding Department of Public Service Staff on That Question.

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