In the Dark

Thousands of people in Queens remain in the dark, more than a week after the blackouts first started. Con Ed has agreed to reimburse customers $350 for spoiled food without a receipt. That's nice, but many folks have spent far more than that.

There are calls to declare the area a federal disaster zone.

Did I mention that there's no end in sight to the end of the blackout? And no one really knows when the power will be fully restored.

Even today, sections of reenergized power lines erupted in flames, cutting power to some who just had power restored. One working theory is that those lines that are burning out were damaged by carrying far more current than they were designed to do when the feeder cables began burning out last week. It will take some time to figure out the cause of the massive failure.

Heat waves aren't out of the norm for the New York Metro area, and that this blackout occurred shows that the power distribution system in the region is far more vulnerable than it should be, although one should note that the blackout was contained to this area, and didn't spread beyond Queens.

Some are wondering where Governor Pataki is to speak out about the problem, but he's been MIA. The Post slams the Legislature and Governor for not reauthorizing a state power plant siting law that would enable power generating facilities to be built according to a streamlined siting process. Infrastructure repair, maintenance, and upgrades aren't the sexy projects that mean ribbon cuttings and pressers, so they get kicked down the line. Someone is going to pay for the inattention to these basic services, and that means taxpayers.