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Subscribe to RSSOn Long Island in New York, more than 10,000 customers still don't have power, and the Long Island Power Administration is now the target of a class-action suit. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
Long Island Power Authority
Michael Hervey, acting CEO of the Long Island Power Authority, announced his resignation Tuesday, two weeks after Sandy wiped out power to nearly 90 percent of the utility's customers.
Michael Hervey, head of the Long Island Power Authority, resigned Tuesday, two weeks after Superstorm Sandy hit the eastern seaboard and wiped out power to nearly 90 percent of the utility's customers.
More than 10,000 customers remained without power on Long Island on Tuesday.
Hervey, who had been with LIPA for 12 years, was chief operating officer and had been acting CEO for two years. His resignation is effective at the end of the year, according to a statement by LIPA Chairman Howard E. Steinberg.
The resignation comes on the heels of New York Gov. Cuomo's announcement of a special commission to investigate how the state’s power companies handled the storm and the nor’easter that hit a week later, The (New York) Daily News reported.
Cuomo has slammed all the power companies for how they responded to the storms but was particularly tough on LIPA, saying he would hold the utility accountable for its performance, the News reported.
"You can’t be any stronger or harsher than I have been on the utility companies," Cuomo said last week, according to Capital New York, saying he would hold them accountable for their slow performance.
"Privately, I have used language my daughters couldn’t hear, so they’ve gotten the message," Cuomo said, according to the site.
Power customers, too, were furious.
“We are sitting in a cold house. No one comes by,” John Mangin of Levittown, N.Y. told The Associated Press. “There should be criminal charges against the CEO and the executive board of LIPA for failure to do their jobs.”
Mangin joined some 300 people in protest outside LIPA's office in Hicksville, N.Y. They were protesting what they said was LIPA's lack of communication, according to the AP.
Elsewhere on Long Island, James Castellano, a father of a 2-day-old, told NBC New York that he could no longer afford to stay in Manhattan hotels, but that he worried about his newborn son being cold.
"You can't have an infant in the house freezing," Castellano said.
Hervey, who was both LIPA’s chief operating officer and the acting chief executive officer, said he had planned to step down before the storms hit, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In the statement, Steinberg said he accepted Hervey's resignation with regret.
Hervey joined LIPA in 2000, according to his executive biography, which applauds his storm preparation. “He has implemented storm hardening policies and capital expenditure programs, which have made LIPA the top most reliable overhead utility in the State,” the bio says.
During Sandy's immediate aftermath, LIPA said on its website that it had dedicated 12,000 workers to restoring power to its customers. About 8,000 of those workers were linemen and tree-trimming crews from around the country, including some who had been airlifted in by the National Guard.
Regardless, confidence in LIPA remains low – including on Wall Street, where a credit agency warned that LIPA’s credit rating could be downgraded for how it would handle the long-term costs of Sandy, Newsday reported.
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Sounds like this guy was about as good as the CEO of CL&P who got run out of town last year after their response to the two storms last fall in CT.
Companies like lipa, Pse&g, Verizon etc. have spent the last ten years reducing staff to increase profits and bonuses for CEO's. This guy has made millions gutting the company for pure profit. And then most people are wondering why it took so long to get power back and phone service back. Because this guy and others like him have spent a decade trying to crush unions and line their pockets. This guy is laughing all the way to the bank and wishing it would have lasted longer for him. This is why some of us where against "deregulation" of utilities.
This guy should be sacked immediately. Funny how people will mention all of the problems surrounding the restoration of power.. Other than one of the most blatently obvious:
Several 'outside' electrical workers who came to the rescue, from the south in particular, said that they were told to stand down, and that non-union help wasn't necessary.
Of course the IBEW has denied it, but it has clearly come to light from more than once source...(The Daily Caller being one) and of course will never seriously be investigated- same old same old.
Typical uneducated responses of boto, george pauljohn and those that voted for your uneducated posts.
http://money.msn.com/investing/11-things-wrong-with-congress
DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT A PUC OR PSC IS.
Rhode Island (401) 941-4500
Connecticut (860) 827-1553, (860) 827-2622, (800) 382-4586
IF YOU DON'T KNOW, GO PUC YOURSELVES.
Cuomo and his Wall Streeter Bankster Buddy Mayor Bloomers need to open up their Multi Million USD and Multi Billion USD personal piggy banks and help their neighbors. Or they are hypocrites like you.
Maybe Cuomo, Krispy Kreme, etc. should go beg their savior President Obama to make the trees to grow faster, so that the power pole companies can make more power poles so that they can have enough power poles.
The only way you will get performance instead of a performance out of the utility crews and utility company management is, in the event of emergency, put them under the jurisdiction of the National Guard. The civilian authority of the executives would be superceded by the commanding general of the National Guard. No utility crew goes out without being accompanied by National Guard troops. The reason is very simple: old-school, hard-nosed accountability. If you are a utility crew worker or executive and you f*ck up or f*ck off, you get shot on sight.
I can't speak to the ineptitude of this power company. What I can say is that up where I live when we have massive outages, we blame the power companies as well. What is sometimes forgotten in all the doom and gloom is that the workers are working as hard as they can for as many hours as is safe and legal to get power restored. Instead of forming protests, find a way to be useful. Obviously they can't help with the power lines, but they can help with a number of other things. I hope they realize that while they're complaining to the news stations or moping about, other people have come from all over the country and are actually working to restore their city. There will be time to call this CEO out for any injustices he might have committed later.
When public works are privatized by private corporates..... the public is placed second to profit., ..... water, electricity, schools, libraries, hospitals, welfare programs, police unions and the police, Fire and Rescue, prisons, school lunch programs, and your Congress....and the list could go on.......
Cant the national guard or army help fix this stuff? Have the state hire the vets that need a job and are voluntering right now. Watched the news and they were doing a great job with experience rebuiding Iraq. They need guys like that and frankly so does the electrical company, city, state, everywhere.
george pauljohn, get your facts straight about the companies you wish to mention. PSE&G has actually been increasing their employee base due to a major project involving the upgrades of grids, transmissions and substations. This year alone they are projected to spend $1.2billion for this project. Guess what else?? They are still hiring with the projection to spend another $1.9billion in 2013. As a matter of fact, PSE&G is the only company in the state of NJ that has mass hiring in affect. What is more is that the majority of who they are seeking to hire must be union-affiliated. Very few workers are non-union and are based internally (non-linemen workers).
Verizon on the other hand has laid off several in the workforce across the country but not a sizeable margin as one would think considering more and more LAN users are switching to wireless phones. I find it rather surprising with the users but that is because most LAN users are ignorant to the abilities lacking on the wireless side. The misconception of wireless devices capabilities concerning 911 calls. A lot of the towns outside of the major metropolitan still operate their 911 system on an analog network. Verizon is only upgrading the copper wiring to fiber-optic in the major metro areas because it is extremely costly. GPS on a wireless phone is not a reliable source for 911 calling depending on the density of the population of where the calls comes in and the availability of the nearest cell tower. If you dial 911 from a LAN phone it has a direct point of service according to phone company records. If dialing 911 from a wireless device (mobile phone) then it is determined based on the nearest cell tower in which the call pings from so if the nearest tower is 1 mile away but is out of service and the call pings from the next nearest tower that is 3 miles away then emergency services must search a 3 mile radius if a person is unable to give their exact location. If you are in a building with 100 apartments then emergency responders much search all 100 apartments. Now imagine 1,000 apartment buildings in a 3 mile radius with more than 100 apartments each. A call made from a LAN would get the first responders there quicker.
I used to work for Bell Atlantic/Verizon and I am currently working at PSE&G in their construction division involved in the upgrade of the network. This project is derived from the 2003 Northeast brown-out. Should you have any questions please feel free to email me: luvisarose@comcast.net
REMINDER:
Look at these photos:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2225112/Superstorm-Sandy-Death-toll-hits-FIFTY-damage-set-50BILLION.html
Inspecting for WATER in basements and unsafe wires is taking time.
Cuomo is just a political hound waving fingers, pointing and accusing everyone except himself. After the fact complaints when as governor he should have had things organized before the fact. Sort of like Bush II and 9-11, asleep at the wheel but pretended to be in control after the fact vowing next time things will be different.
Well, all you obama leg humpers blamed Katrina on Bush, so Obama is doing a lousy job with NJ huh? The only reason the death toll is not higher is because at least most of these people evacuated when told to.
I hope there's no surprise here. Irene was a tropical storm when it came through last year. Yet another CEO quit his job. People up north have no idea how to handle a storm. All the large power companies up north need to spend 3 mo. on the Gulf Coast. See how power companies prepare for storms down here.
As for those still without power, just relax, you are not special by any means. Your Class-action Suit, if won needs to com out of the CEO's pockets. Maybe then the COE's and presidents would take their jobs seriously..!!!!!!
Crystal-569996
No one blamed Katrina on Bush II, just his inadequacies. Looking back most people can't find anything good he did, including Romney.
Katrina was three times as destructive as Sandy and when the late call to evacuate came all of the rich and middle class got out of Dodge but there were no provisions to evacuate the elderly, sick and poor. That is the biggest failing of Bush II during Katrina.
The same year as Katrina a province in China was expecting a storm and the Chinese government evacuated all of the 450,000 people. I never understood how China cared more about its citizens than Bush II did.
Dick, I listened to the head of FEMA about 6 months ago as he testified to congress about budget matters. The interesting part of his comments is the fact that FEMA's role in a disaster is to help co-ordinate relief; it is the responsibility of the local government to do the planning. I believe that the lack of planning for evacuation of NO was the fault of the local government and state government. While there is certainly blame to be laid at the feet of FEMA for some things that failed, much of the blame for loss of life in NO must be directed at local officials.
Ultimately, your suggesting that the poor evacuation was the biggest failing of Bush II is misplaced.
If feel bad but this CEO got complacent. LIPA's using paper maps to manage the outages apparently. LIPA said last year another hurricane wouldn't come around soon.
I love all the harsh words from Cuomo about LIPA, but when banks in his own state steal trillions of dollars, no harsh words.
On TV the other day a utility truck had a sign saying 'I don't know.' And, to all the utility workers putting in 12 hour days for the past two weeks, thank you.
i hate lipa. They are a monopoly. I pay almost $300 a month for electric. And that is down from the usual $366 I was paying. They pass off their costs to the customers and we have no other choices..
Stop consuming so much electricity. I pay about the same because I use so much
alan_static Thanks for your appreciation for the guys out there in the streets, climbing poles, hand digging to set new poles where they can't use a digger truck, working in some pretty nasty weather and doing everything THEY can to get everybody back in power. Clearly, this storm far exceeds anything a utility company has ever dealt with before, but management's lack of communication has made things so much worse... My husband has been working 17 hour days, every day, for over 2 weeks now, and he said most people, like you, have treated them well...those who haven't, are understandably upset, but don't help get the job done any sooner.... Hopefully, everybody will have what they NEED soon...what they WANT, will take longer...and my husband can come home....
I know that our local energy co-op sent linemen to NY/NJ and they are sending more. Thanks and appreciation to the men and women who are working to get the power, telephone etc. back on for those who were hit by the storms.
Seems they are stuck in the '70s technology wise with their maps. Others use iPads and smartphones.
I also heard they are still using a '70s mainframe and dumb terminals. Time to claw back some big wigs pay and bonuses from the last few decades and put it to actual good use.
I suspect the reason they didn't want "outsiders" help was because they were embarrassed.
Uh, yeah, heard the term POWER OUTAGE. As well as, electricity not getting along too well with water, show me a 100% waterproof iPad, computer, etc.. Then there is the matter of "connectivity" to the internet for large files.
When we used a Non Nuclear E-Bomb on Iraq during 2002 Operation Hotel California, that caused 20th Century Iraq to go all the way back to the Stone Ages.
Will Saddam Fall Victim to the Elusive E-bomb? Feb. 18 2002
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125336&page=1
Those of us that were trained during the "Cold War" (1945 to 1990) knew about the EMP/EMR, and were properly trained and equipped for that contingency. Those that were not trained nor experienced after 1990 had this blank stare (no GPS, no digital watches, no PDAs, etc.). This is why since we operate for years of consecutive tours in "third or fourth World Nations", we train to survive with minimal or no high tech resources nor electricity, especially in the lost art of paper maps and magnetic compass land navigation.
As far as the current high tech modern electrical grid. In most cases the management is done by computers using customized one of a kind computer parts that must be specially manufacturered.
There is also the other factor, local, city, state Ordinances that prohibit the cutting down of trees, even in your own yard. With these trees usually dropping frozen branches or entire trees collapsing on homes, power lines, etc.; or in this case the entire trees getting uprooted and falling on the utility poles, blowing circuit breakers, and or blowing out transformers (and the domino effect). While at the "Common Wealth" of Virginia training with the USN, sitting in the dark I wondered just how smart these people really are (paying property taxes and getting that kind of nonsense). Same thing when I was on the west coast training with the USN and another State with the US Army (not allowed to create a fire break around your home before a forest fire, only the forestry service can do that as well as clearing the underbrush, if the tree huggers did not file a court injunction).
A tad off topic but to Sane Central...Don't hate on a 70's mainframe and dumb terminals. If you want the most stable, most secure environment for your data and processes, that 70's mainframe has yet to be equaled. You can add new technologies on top of it with no problem. Just because it's from the 70's doesn't mean they haven't been upgrading it.
Hay Bosco. While we are off topic;) When I was in hard times I had to take a tech job repairing that old stuff. No schematics available. Had to reverse engineer everything. My smart phone has more horsepower. Security depends on means of connectivity. Token ring anybody? One loose plug and everybody is down. And good luck finding someone to maintain that old code (if they can find the dev tools). I will say, we made a lot of money off of the government to keep those old dinos alive. Enough to buy modern equipment a few times over. But anyway... back on topic...
Here in Kansas there are communities that go without power for week to ten days twice a year due to bad weather. Kansas sent many lineman to NY to assist with the perceived power outage 3 days prior to Sandy hitting the eastern shores. I don't know why Michael Hervey resigned but here in Kansas those in charge would only ask "DO YOU WANT SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WINE". Suck it up, we do.
Its a political circus.
In 2008, Hurricane Ike came through Houston - I had no electricity for 17 days.
Its not good, but a Hurricane came through the city, thankfully our politicians react like a hurricane themselves. Also, NY has refused some non-union help, so blame your politicians for the extra days without power.
I live with and take care of my 83 year old mother in Houston, and when Hurricaine Ike came in the middle of Sept. a few years ago, we were without power for 2 1/2 weeks. At that time, our average temps were in the mid to high 90's - that temp combined with our almost regular 100% humidity is more than miserable under normal circumstances so one can only imagine what it was like without air conditioning during those following weeks.
The neighborhood we live in one of the oldest in Houston and only about five minutes from downtown. A lot of residents in our "hood" are in their 70's, 80's, and some even in their 90's. The City of Houston knows this fact, how many elderly live in our "hood" and yet we were one of the last areas to have our power restored.
Eventually it came out in the news, about a month later, that Reliant Energy, our supplier, had failed to do regular maintenance on the lines and poles for several years - budget cuts - and as a result, when Ike hit the whole city had huge outages for these reason and probably more that we don't know of - that were not revealed to the public.
The news also reported on the CEO's salary - believe me, it was outrageous! In an interview with the CEO which was aired on the evening news, the guy was dodging questions like one would dodge bullets -
Go figure...
So to you who are experiencing the aftermath of Sandy - you have my prayers and best wishes for a more speedy recovery than we had here.
The east coast has had untold offers of help hrom all over the nation, but the local unions have ran most out cause they were non union, tell you what folks when you ask for help, do so with your hat in your hand and tell the unions to F@CK OFF.
Hey kip... aka Reich-Wing Faux Noise anti-union talking point repeater... show us your sources or else crawl back into your treasonous anti-American hole!
You better hope voting never requires any kind of IQ testing.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ala-utility-crew-returns-home-17629385#.UKMXWmfn-So
http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/03/amid-sandys-devastation-long-island-union-sent-written-demand-to-florida-utilities-pay-dues-or-stay-home/
http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/wsfa/linkedwebdocs/Press%20Release%20Hurricane%20Sandy.pdf
http://www.myfoxal.com/story/19981857/decatur-utilities-crews-home-after-issues-with-union?clienttype=printable
Another one just in case GovHater has trouble with any of the big words.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/fla-utility-union-delayed-crews-for-lipa-1.4205898
Thanks, Nibor, for setting that idjut straight. I'm quite certain though, providing a lefty like that with facts has only confounded and confused.
Hmm ... your links don't say what you think they say:
One link is the press release that DU states was IN ERROR and here's another couple of clips from one of your links:
The other link is from a source that I would not call credible due to an EXTREME bias.
Unfortunately some inflexible unions rules can make all unions look bad to idiots out there who derive that all unions are bad because of the actions of the few. Its much easier for lazy nonthinking people just to lump everything they don't understand into little black and/or white categories. I was about to add who cares what the idiots think but sadly we have to because they are running the country.
ps As i was writing Cat seems posted quotes Decatur from.. perhaps its good the non union guys couldnt make it seeing how they cant even read
Well, a bunch of different links reporting the same story don't make a trend and in some of those stories they report conflicting things saying that the non-union workers weren't blocked at all.
That aside, I will just say this. If I'm out there working on lines, I want to know that the other people working around me are properly trained and certified workers in the field. These are electrical lineman, not landscapers. Would you be anxious to have someone do surgery on you that wasn't a licensed doctor? This is a high skill trade with serious consequences. One important thing the IBEW does is provide people who are properly and uniformly trained. Without the IBEW certification who knows what you are getting?
Now that said, if you assume these are qualified guys and they are allowed to work, but they are expected to work under the region's rules, why is that an issue? If some anti-Union guys went up there and then decided to make a stink about the Union rules, (which were waived), that isn't the fault of local Unions. It's the fault of the guys who didn't want to follow the rules. The irony is that these guys passed up a lot of money, far more than they make at home because they wanted to make some political stand. My guess is that a lot of this decision was made by the home utility company management. It might make problems for them when these guys got home realizing that they have been getting screwed on their wages and benefits.
The local Unions play a big role in the deployment of the workers filling the various calls. It is in fact the IBEW and the locals that even make this kind of nationwide assistance possible. The IBEW provides the organizational structure that can make this kind of response workable. If the effort isn't organized it is a disaster and we are talking about very dangerous jobs were people can easily get killed. There is no room for mistakes in this work.
The facts are that there may have been a few cases where things got blown out of proportion and the anti-Union guys have tried to create some huge story about it. The facts are that many hundreds of non-Union utility workers have been out there working alongside IBEW lineman. How do you explain that if the Union kept them out? You can't. But I'll be 100% honest, if it's my utility, I want an IBEW lineman because I know what I'm getting. That isn't to say that these guys were anything less than quality, skilled lineman, but I'd have little to base any judgement on, other than hoping they could help without getting killed.
But just remember, the IBEW Union didn't reject these guys in the stories, the guys rejected the Union. That is the real story whether you want to face up to it or not.
It is refreshing to read people understanding what these crews were going through. Kimberly first hand. My nephew went down with a crew from National Grid, giving up a weekend plus his family to do what he thought was a good deed. He was screamed at and treated like the enemy. He understood their frustration but besides Sandy they had a Nor'easter to clean up after. The news media NEVER interviewed a crewman nor followed one around to see what they were going through. All they were interested in was sensationalism because it sells. Watching residents standing on the sides of the road holding signs and screaming at these crews was painful to watch. Instead of doing that, why weren't they helping their fellow neighbors with clean up? Here in upstate NY, the weather is always complicated and sub freezing temps are the norm when we are without power. Sometimes acts of God, as insurance companies like to call them, don't happen under the best of circumstances. It could be a sudden weather change or a serious car accident where power poles are cut down and transformers are exploding. One needs to be prepared. It wasn't the workers that held up the power to their homes, it was the conditions. We too were under watch for this same storm so there was no way they could have left here until we were without a threat. I don't think many took it seriously. Weather predictions have been wrong more than right so many did not believe what they were told. If you live on the ocean or any form of major water formation, you are living dangerously when it comes to storm threats. Common knowledge. You need to be prepared for the worst. These people need to understand that they are not the only ones on this universe. Things happen and sometimes it isn't pleasant. They have their lives and that should be worth more than a few weeks without power. I know that is the way I have felt after being without power for 30 hours.
Way to go Kip! Unions have continued to ruin our magnificent country for decades now. They're disgusting & should be abolished forever!
read the whole article
These old boys thought!!
An Alabama utility crew heading to New Jersey has returned home, claiming it had to affiliate with a union to help with the recovery effort after Superstorm Sandy. But union officials, a New Jersey utility company and the governor said Friday they are mistaken.
Disputer,
Good post. This is a huge job. A lot of people are working very hard, doing their best to help make many peoples lives normal again. I applaud the efforts.
Something this does tell us though, is a bit of a revelation about human nature in the urban environment. Take a thousand people crowded together totally dependent on their infrastructure and all it takes is a few idiots to make things more miserable when such a disaster hits. A few big mouths can manage to get a lot of people all riled up and then logic and sanity tend to fall to the wayside. It can quickly spread like some infectious disease. People don't complain so much when there's no one to hear them, but given an audience, everybody wants to be heard.
I think for the most part, the vast majority, as frustrated and uncomfortable as they are, are just coping as best as possible. But the people who are quietly sitting this out and hoping for the best, go unnoticed. These people aren't going to make the news. It's the crazies and the desperate that get attention, even though they may be a small minority. And this minority can stir up others too. It's the basis of how the mob mentality works. Frankly I am a bit surprised that it isn't more chaotic. I suspect that is because most realize that it's mainly a matter of time. They wish it was over now, but at least they can see relief in the future. The question is, how long the can hold out until frustrated but hopeful evolves into desperate. Situations are different and some will crack earlier than others. Hopefully all the hard efforts being put out get them out of this mess soon. Getting power back will be a big help and it looks like progress is being made, but it is a bigger task than most realize.
The greed of the Unions is more than evident and New Yorkers/New Jerseyites say NOTHING. People drive thousands of miles to help restore power and the NY/NJ unions turn them away. If these tough NY/NJ people are so tough and self reliant to allow such blatant stupidity and greed, then so be it and let the restoration take months instead of weeks. If the governors wants to investigate something, they should be investigating WHY knowledgeable helpers are told they cannot help the people.
The next disaster? Think the out of state Utility people will come to help? Why waste the gasoline?
For what reason would Alabama or any other state's utility workers lie? NO REASON, NO GAIN for them. The Governors are surely cowed by the Unions and the PEOPLE suffer. Hard to have sympathy for STUPIDITY. Go ahead and force the Power Companies Executives out because they won't turn the power on in your house because the salt water destroyed your wiring, knowing your house will burn to the ground if they do so. How dare they try to protect your property! Let it burn is the Motto you operate by.
Just like your major news outlets are more concerned with adultery than they are with the MURDERS of our Ambassador and others. Your stupidity is on display for the world to see.
Here you go gov you flaming ahole
http://www.myfoxny.com/category/233240/shame-shame-shame
Hervey joined LIPA in 2000, according to his executive biography, which applauds his storm preparation. "He has implemented storm hardening policies and capital expenditure programs, which have made LIPA the top most reliable overhead utility in the State," the bio says.
If anything, the power companies would love to get their level of income up to normal again by restoring your power. I am pretty sure throwing the power company employees in jail is not going to make power come back faster.
How many years did it take to build the distribution system? And what is a reasonable time to rebuild it when a storm knocks out 90% of it? Five days, maybe? How many days did it take to rebuild the Pentagon after a small portion was destroyed on 9/11? And they had unlimited resources to throw at the effort.
The surge water level was not anticipated. Now that it is known, it would make sense to implement plans to raise all the transformers and switch gear above that level, plus another 5 feet. It will cost a lot to raise the substations, but the customers who wish to live in the coastal flood zones will be glad to pay the higher rates needed to support the storm-proofing efforts.
Build at sea level, you gonna get wet. Simple truth.
Stories like this scare the sh*t out of me. This is eerily reminiscent of the Italian court which just convicted seven scientists of manslaughter for failing to predict an earthquake. They now face prison sentences, for nothing more than apparently choosing the wrong profession.
When politicians feel like they can just arbitrarily require us to perform super-human feats, or else face strict punishment, then you know that our government has become too large and too powerful. The power companies are working as hard as they can to get power restored, but the common man has no idea just how much work is required to accomplishing that. Cuomo is taking advantage of people's ignorance and frustrations in a shameful attempt to gain more support from voters, and as was the case in Italy, good, hard-working people might actually get hurt by his slander (just not people he cares about). Seems to be the theme in politics lately.
And by the way, pelting power company employees with eggs while they try to do their job isn't going to make them want to work any faster to help you. This is just another example of a morally corrupt, divisive politician making a populist run at middle class votes, as the Mayor of Bridgeport, CT accused the power companies of favoring wealthy suburbs, leading to verbal and physical abuse of the workers. Maybe it's just me, but when you need someone's help, harassing and vilifying them is probably not the best course of action. But then again I was raised without the expectation of government satisfying my every need, economics be damned.
There's a couple things at work here. For one, many utilities all over the country have cut back on both employees and equipment for a long time now. Many utilities have also been living on borrowed time with parts of their systems being a century old. All this has been about making money and lots of it.
That said, no utility is going to be able to be fully prepared for such a level of disaster. When you get in densely populated areas, the systems are enormous even though they cover a relatively small area. The devastation they have seen here is nearly unprecedented when you look at the number of customers in a relatively small area. Even getting all the needed materials to repair such destruction is no easy task. There is only so much of this stuff around and lead times aren't short. What we are talking about is essentially rebuilding from scratch what took many, many decades to build and get it all accomplished in just weeks.
You just can't prepare for this, however had they been constantly working on hardening the system, the devistation might not have been as great. The sad part is that when they get done slapping this back togther, it isn't going to be any better than it was other than replacing some old parts with new, but the basic system will be pretty much the same. Now is not the time to redesign it when getting things up and running is the high priority. And you can be sure that along the way there will be some compromises made that will contribute to some short term reliability issues.
The average person takes the electrical system for granted and has no concept of just how complex and massive the system is. There are valuable lessons to be learned from this disaster, but the question is whether people will realize it and start making the improvements that should have been made decades ago.
Kudos to all the men and women working their butts off under less than ideal conditions to get the power back on. It is an enormous task. Far bigger than most could have ever guessed. When it is done, hopefully millions will have a new appreciation for something they probably took for granted before. There is some blame that can rightfully be directed at the utility companies, but be clear in the understanding that this wouldn't have been a minor event even if they had been far more prepared. It is somewhat the nature of the beast and most major metropolitan areas aren't much less vulnerable.
1NewDay,
A lesson that must be learned from the Russian Federation and Chinese.
Do you know why they still use "ancient" technology, things that can be repaired with basic materials and common tools.
Do you know how or can you solder a surface mount transistor to a electrical circuit board that was originally manufactured by a computer controlled precision machine; after you detect exactly which one burned out, while not having any electricity yourself. Almost forgot you also have to repair that microscopic surface mount transistor, since you do not have that specific replacement.
Utility and cell companies should be required to have generators ready to deploy in the case of a lengthy outage. Food, gas and communications need to be available within days after the outage... not weeks.
Let's pay for those benefits in case of a long power outage by hiking up rates!
...Or just make individuals responsible for purchasing a home generator if they want one in a case of a long outage.
It would be nice if power companies would do that, but nothing is free.
news flash, back in the 1970's and before, utilities where run as "limited profit" companies. heavily regulated. they had to have a certain number of workers per capita served. Then along came Nixon and Reagan to "deregulate" utilities because according to them, things would run better and we would have lower rates. sure didn't work out that way around here.
Con Edison has the strongest union in this area, their customers got their power back way faster then anybody. figure it out.
It needs to be understood that most power companies do have some generators and backup equipment, but there is no real way to plan for this level of destruction and every new problem that arises from a disaster. Everyone understands that this is a very difficult situation, but understand that there are thousands, if not 10s of thousands of people working very hard to help get these communities up and going again. Please give everyone a break that are working very long hours and in incredibly difficult situations across a widespread disaster area. This will take time as it is impossible to restore decades of infrastructure in a few days.
Living in South Louisiana, during a bad hurricane it is not uncommon for folks to go two to three weeks without electricity. That's why so many people down here own generators. I've been without electricity when it's 30 degrees (when I lived in another state) and I've lived without electricity in 95-100 degree weather, and believe me I'll take the cold any day. Most of us stock up on gasoline well before the storm hits because we know there's going to be a shortage. And since when did they start giving out free gas for storm victims? I'm a little bit jealous on that one. As for food, I went hungry through Katrina and learned my lesson. I stock up on non perishables now, including water.
Some of us on the East Coast built for the coming storms...
15KVA-NG generator, well for water, metal roofs, roof ties that extend to the foundation, etc...
But the main one, do not build in a KNOWN FLOOD Zone...
It flooded last year, and many other times during the years sense HAZEL (1954). In these very same areas...
Currently I own 1,500' of ICWshore-line, but the buildings are outside & above the flood zone. Little damage from Burtha or Fran, other than clearing sea-grass and a few trees...
As we told the people when we estamated their construction/rebuild cost. "Build to code and pay every time a major storm hits. Or buy the quality material and construct for the big one. In the long term it is less expensive..."
People were warned about how bad this storm would be and rather than preparing for it they sat with their thumbs in their butts. Now they want to blame someone else for the fix their in. You can not restore a power grid in days that took years to build
And the proper way to prepare for a storm like this is to evacuate the affected area, and stay out until conditions can be restored enough to support such a dense population. That would be a huge effort for a storm of this size. Too bad we prefer to pack our population along the seacoast. Someday there will be a 70-foot tsunami that will make this look like the teddy bears' picnic - and the warning time will be nearly zero.
mailman8,
If you look at the development of major popuations along flood prone areas...
It is just during the last 80+years, that the masses have located near the water, and tourest areas around the beaches were developed. In the USA and many other developing countries...
Prior to this, many fishing villages/towns would MOVE their exposed buildings from the shore to further up-river...
See Harkers Island, NC when they were still moving buildings to Beaufort & Morehead, during the hurricane season. Many of the old houses were built with semi-pointed ends and made to be transported by boat...
Hey Cuomo!That's what happens when you turn down outside help because they aren't union!YOU DICK!
It seems unfortunate that the response to the storm was not optimal, but is it really the CEO's fault?
This is a rare flood event for the Northeast coast and I would not start placing blame until all the facts are in. It's very important to compare what COULD have been done to what WAS done. Having to call up the National Guard and extra utility workers seems like something that would have been done regardless and with the extensive damage in a highly urbanized area is it unreasonable to say that restoring utilities will take a lot of time?
One thing I can say is that I did not see many public statements from Hervey. Perhaps his lack of public compassion and transparency are what caused people to believe he did not care.
Scapegoat. When desired results have become fruitless.
This weasel reminds me of the BP CEO who was whining about " . . .wanting my life back . . ." when confronted with the platform fire and oil spill. Meaning he wanted to be on his yacht with his wife, mistress, big-b__b companion, or whomever.
What these jerks do not understand is, when the stuff hits the fan, it is time to earn their big bucks salaries.
The Board of LIPA should refuse to accept his resignation, terminate him for cause, which would extinguish his benefits, golden parachute, and whatever else is in his contract. To paraphrase, when the going gets tough, the weasels resign.
Wonder if the unions blocking help from out of state linemen will be resigning as well?
If you thoroughly read the articles about the Decatur Utility that you posted, you would see that THEY even acknowledged that they were never turned away from helping in NY or NJ...they were in VA, at a staging area, when they were given information that they either misunderstood or was not authorized by IBEW...There were utility crews and contractors (non-union!) from as far as Michigan and Kentucky, headed to the east coast by Saturday BEFORE the Hurricane hit...My husband, who IS a union worker, wasn't sent in until Wednesday, after the storm hit. He said there were hundreds of line trucks at his staging area, both union and not. If you listen to the people out there actually working the storm, they will tell you that more help is needed, and nobody trained and licensed to do the job is being turned away...
Plain and simple, people are paying through the nose for a product/services, and along with that the utility companies should be spending that money making sure that they are/can effectively provide those product/services no matter what! If you buy something at the store and its defective, you return it and get your money back right? When is the last time your cable, electric, gas company credited your bill because of an outage or interruption of a service you paid for? Yeah... try f'n NEVER! Welcome to America sheeple!
When was the last time you recieved a bill for power you didn't get! And do you refund your employer for the days your sick and not putting out your share of the work!
Thats' just ridiculous. Carry On
There is no real way to "prepare" for these storms. The only thing you can possibly do is get an idea of how many outside utility workers you would need (who also have busy jobs themselves with or without bad weather, so there can't exactly be a "reserve" of them) if a hypothetical percent of the power grid went down. They have had to bring workers and equipment from all over the country to the east coast. I would imagine it would take a large amount of time to find a company with workers who are somewhat free, have the company decide how many they are willing to send, negotiate a price, etc.
It's obvious that Hervey was just enjoying the executive life with exec pay. It's also obvious he didn't have an emergency plan in place. That's actually one of the first things he should have worked on when he started.
Whats obvious is most of the people on the entire east coast do not have a preparedness plan. It is their individual responsibility to BE prepared for disaster. Have a generator, have food and water, batteries fuels.. basic common sense.. but Instead, MILLIONS sat on their hands and watched the storm coming on the evening news. Relying on the government to bail you out is just soooo... "liberal"
At least Cuomo had a plan; dipping into the taxpayers pockets again. New York City is perhaps getting too expensive to keep cluttering up the skyline.
Chill out people. Its only been two weeks and almost all power is restored for the many millions affected. That's a pretty good response. Obviously there will be pockets where there are difficulties restoring power for many reasons and obviously people who are not happy because of it. Media coverage of this recovery event needs to be balanced. Acknowledge frustration of some in the article but please balance that against the overwhelming positive.
Cuomo needs to go fuk himself.
Hopefully the head of PSE&G is next.
When we had the power outage in upstate NY in the 1998 ice storm, we were with out power for over two months here in the dead of winter. We didn't sit home and cry that it was some one else's fault that it happened, or that the power was out so long. We got off our A$$es and went out and helped get the trees off the roads, used our own trucks to plow the roads so they could get in to work on the utility poles. Made sure our elderly had a warm place to stay, and shuttled food and fuel to those who couldn't get out to do it.
It's a damn disgrace that people down there can't take any responsibility for them selfs, and get off their butts to help the electric companies get the job done easier, instead of throwing crap at the workers while they are there freezing on the pole in front of your house, try being a descent human and offer them a hot cup of coffee/cocoa to warm them up. Even just a smile of THANKS goes a long way.
By the way New York City is the center of the world, so stop acting like it is, other people are without power too, and are not acting this badly!
These are the types that are running the country into the ground. I sincerely hope that his resignation carries no severence pay, no pension, and no stock options with it. He didn't do his job for which he obviously was getting well compensated.
BBin
You don't work do you?
He needs to get back in there and not resign. Its a very humiliating and emotional thing to think your all that and then have this happen to you leaving you in a fail fail situation. Our power manager on the gulf coast cried in front of the entire county after opal demolished the gulf coast but he didnt quit. He had been up for three days. I think we were without power in that two hurricane event about 5 days the first one and then thirty days later for 12 or more. I was sure glad when the weather broke for cold fronts that year.
Yeah its a bad situation but to quit will not show who he is or what he is made of unless he really wasnt all he was hired as. Generally someone who gets a job like that is supposed to come highly recommended. I am personally all the tenacity and non quit anyone can handle and I cant get hired because i dont have dd-214c preference. what is up with that? I am a human too. anyway good luck to him but he should finish... resigning is only something you do after someone suggests it is an option because they put you in a fail situation in their opinion. If I commit I do not quit. its just that simple.
Perhaps I would have a different outlook on things if I didn't have power for over a week (mine was out for 70 hours this year and 71 last year), but I do think people need to chill just a bit when it comes to the power companies.
I didn't see how bad it was in Long Island, but I know parts of Jersey and PA had so many power lines down its almost unbelievable. I think there is a serious debate to be had about the overall integrity of the power grid and its ability withstand major weather events. However, given the incredible amount of damage done to the grid by Sandy, the power companies need a bit of slack. They only have so many resources, and theres probably not a lot more that could have been done to get power back on faster.
John S I agree, 8 million without power to begin with after Sandy and some more lost after the other storm, You people should be praising the major accomplishment of your utility workers. They are out there doing what needs to be done to get your power on. These folks are cold too, they are outdoors in the elements. At least most of you had places to get in out of the direct weather while these workers were trying to help you.
And how many of you were ordered to evacuate and decided for yourselves to ignore the warnings. How many of you were prepared for a hurricane of this magnitude? Not likely very many. You had ample time to leave and find other places to go before the storm hit.
I feel bad for you but you put yourself in this situation and then cry because people trying to help you are too slow.
If you didn't take heed, and you were not prepared you are to blame for your situation. People need to take responsibility for their own actions. Including stupid ones.
These power companies have been told for years that the lines need to go underground. In Florida they had been for over 20 years that it needed to be done because storms were going to become more frequent and stronger. Well, they didn't listen. They pocketed the profits, paying their CEO's ridiculous salaries and now they have the biggest disaster on record.
All the citizens of NY, NJ, CT, etc. must demand that the lines now be buried and that its time for wind turbine's to go up all over the country.
Sorry Big Oil and Big Power.... You are now going to be held responsible for Global warming. Make them accountable!
The cost and time to bury utility lines would back Obama's deficit look like a drop in a bucket. First of all, High tension lines can't be buried... A far BETTER alternative, is natural gas or propane powered fuel cells at every home., at least in heavily forested areas, then The the utility lines become redundant, but available. People in the area KNEW the storms were coming, and most did NOT prepare. The idea that "the government" will protect and provide is what bit them in the butt. Buy a generator. Store 6 months of food and water if practical . Doing noting to help yourself, then whining about it after is not acceptable .
what could possibly happen?
you are born and bred to pay one third of your life income to taxes, another one third of your entire income to pay for your utilities, however overpriced they may be, and whatever you have left is what you have left to live on. it is the republican way.
thanks to people like you, the power and utility companies don't pay any taxes at all, and their shareholders enjoy a quite comfortable lifestyle.