Stop Work Order for Amagansett Power Sub-Station

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell slapped a Stop Work Order on PSEG for work currently underway at their substation in Amagansett.

PSEG was issued the SWO for failing to get site plan review from the Planning Board, not holding a public a public hearing, and not getting approval from the Architectural Board of Review or obtaining a building permit.

The order, Supervisor Cantwell said in a phone conversation, will remain in effect until the Amagansett sub-station project is in compliance.

While the order does not prohibit the ongoing installation of transmission poles through the eastern half of East Hampton and into Amagansett, it is a step in the right direction according to Sarah Brooks Minardi a member of the advocacy group Save East Hampton that is lobbying to have the poles buried. “It's validation,” Ms. Minardi said, “that our government is trying to help us.”

Presently, two 23-kilovolt electric lines running on a single line supply power to areas of eastern East Hampton said Jeffrey Weir a spokesman for PSEG. “The new line,” said Mr. Weir, “will connect East Hampton with the Amagansett substation.”

Mr. Weir said the SWO was unexpected. “To be honest with you,” he said, “it’s disappointing and surprising. Larry Cantwell was Village Administrator and involved with all the processes we went through to get the project originally approved to provide safe and consistently reliable electricity, last summer.”

The Amagansett substation was the subject of a meeting between the Long Island Power Authority and representatives of the Town of East Hampton, including Sylvia Overby a Town Councilwoman, Thursday. Discussed were the aesthetic concerns of the residents of Amagansett over the appearance of the Amagansett substation which has been in the process of being improved ever since PSEG first announced plans to upgrade the electrical wires connecting the eastern part of the Town of East Hampton with the rest of Long Island were first discussed last autumn.

“It is our understanding that the Long Island Power Authority is not required to get permits,” Mr. Weir said. However, at the meeting with Ms. Overby to discuss the appearance of the Amagansett substation “There was no mention of a Stop Work Order,” Mr. Weir said. “It was about beautification.”

In closing Mr. Weir summarized PSEG’s position on the burying of the power lines: “I think it’s important to note we’ve said we’re amenable to burying the lines as long as the rest of Long Island doesn’t have to pay for it.”