ALBANY – Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson (D, Newburgh) to study the feasibility of burying all or most electrical, telephone and internet transmission lines in New York has been signed into law by Governor Hochul. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Leroy Comrie (D, Queens).
“The cost of burying transmission lines pales in the inconvenience and costs to individuals and businesses every time there is a major storm,” Jacobson said.
“In New York City they started burying the lines in Manhattan after the Blizzard of 1988. I think it’s long overdue that we start doing the\ same thing around here, so we don’t have to suffer every time there is a bad storm,” he said.
Jacobson said he is “certain a study will show that burying these lines would ultimately save government, businesses, and ordinary citizens billions of dollars as well as human lives.”
The study will be conducted by the State Department of Public Service in cooperation with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
