National Grid USA's plan for supplying its downstate New York gas territory ran into stiff opposition from climate activists in Long Island, where green groups signaled they would hold Gov. Andrew Cuomo accountable for settling a dispute with the utility rather than revoking its license to operate.

Environmentalists dominated the executive listening session at the first public meeting to discuss the plan March 9 in Hicksville, N.Y. The report is part of National Grid's $36 million settlement with the New York State Public Service Commission, or PSC, to end the company's six-month moratorium on new gas hookups in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island.

National Grid implemented the moratorium after New York refused to permit a new gas pipeline through New York Bay — the Northeast Supply Enhancement project, or NESE — sparking a monthslong battle with Cuomo, who threatened to replace the company with another utility.

Despite the often contentious tenor, National Grid's New York president, John Bruckner, said the company is committed to incorporating feedback into its long-term plan, which includes the option of building the controversial NESE project.

"In this process — and it really is a process — we are offering up all the options that are out there, getting the feedback, and then we'll reconcile or synthesize all that feedback into the options that are there," Bruckner said on the sidelines of the meeting. "If we overlooked something, if there's additional information or different options people may suggest, this isn't the end of it, right? This is the start of a process."

Challenging National Grid's business model

Some speakers, such as Guy Jacob, conservation chair of the Nassau Hiking and Outdoor Club, appealed to National Grid's profit motive, imploring the company to transition to providing geothermal energy and other low- or no-carbon solutions.

"If you modify your business model and become distributors of these renewable opportunities, would it present an opportunity for profit? Because if you don't, time is going to catch up with you" as New York implements legally mandated clean energy goals, Jacob said.

Bruckner noted in an interview that the company is pursuing projects in renewable natural gas, a form of the fuel refined from methane waste sources such as farms and landfills, as well as power-to-gas projects, which would process hydrogen fuel from the offshore wind farms being developed off Long Island.

But many environmentalists, some who traveled from Brooklyn, said the long-term supply report was beside the point, openly calling for the state to shutter National Grid's Brooklyn Union Gas Co. and KeySpan Gas East Corp. utilities and replace them with community-owned and -managed renewable energy systems.

"Gov. Cuomo and the PSC should never have made this arrangement," said Sara Gronim, a member of climate activist group 350 Brooklyn, in an interview. "National Grid wants to increase the supply of gas to its region. It's in the business of selling gas. It is impossible to meet our climate goals at the same time that we are keeping our gas use level, never mind increasing it. This should have been a plan on how National Grid would wind down its business."

Members of the environmental coalition assailed National Grid for perpetuating the use of hydraulically fractured gas, allegedly lying to legitimize the gas moratorium, and "destroying the planet" and their children's future. At one point, coalition members chanted, "Off fossil fuels!" while a member recorded the scene, adding "Cuomo!" to the end of the protest line.

Small business backs Cuomo

Notably absent were small business owners who took a financial hit during the gas moratorium. Many of them anticipated the polarizing atmosphere and chose to stay home, according to Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, a downtown revitalization group.

"They're busy with their business. They don't want to be part of a circus," Alexander told S&P Global Market Intelligence after the listening session.

While environmentalists criticized Cuomo's dealmaking with National Grid, Alexander said business owners were happy to finally get access to fuel as a result of the settlement. Alexander said Vision Long Island has long advocated for long-term renewable energy planning, but he predicted Cuomo would face little backlash from small business if his administration does eventually permit NESE.

"We talk to real people on the street. It's the bottom line. They want clean energy. They want renewables, but it's got to make economic sense," Alexander said. "So the government's got to step in and make some subsidy, or you've got to allow a transition fuel, or you probably need both."

The project has the backing of local labor unions and builders, who noted in a joint news release that the state finally conceded in its settlement with National Grid that the region faces a gas supply shortage.

"The National Grid report makes it clear — downstate New York needs the Northeast Supply Enhancement ... project. There simply is not another option to responsibly address the natural gas shortage and ensure the long-term economic viability of Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens," John Hutchings, director of the NYS Laborers Organizing Fund, said in a statement.

Bruckner said National Grid is not prioritizing NESE above other options, despite the project scoring highly for reliability, safety and other criteria in its report.

"I would be presumptuous to think we have the answer right now," Bruckner said. "We're going to have the answer when we get all this feedback. It will be the solutions that are viable, coupled with the perceptions of the various stakeholders about those solutions, and we'll work with the state on what that looks like and look to have an answer by the end of June on what that direction will be."

Long Islanders question National Grid's methodology

Among those speakers at the event who did address the substance of National Grid's report, some said National Grid did not present enough options.

Long Island resident Fred Harrison, who identified himself as a retired economics and politics teacher, said he liked the 10 options the company put forward but the plan fell short of a full slate.

"Why did it stop at 10?" Harrison asked. "I don't understand why there's not an option of fully embracing the recent New York State legislation that was passed. I don't understand that — that that wasn't an option that National Grid would enthusiastically dedicate itself to achieving the legislatively mandated goals on greenhouse gases."

Harrison also said National Grid failed to account for the public health and economic externalities associated with greenhouse gas emissions in its cost assessment. Harrison additionally took issue with the company's forecast of a future gas shortage, saying National Grid did not factor in a potential decline in gas consumption at regional power plants driven by growing renewable energy.

Sierra Club Long Island Chair Charles Bevington also criticized the report's methodology, particularly that it used an average temperature of 0 degrees Fahrenheit over a 24-hour period to assess supply and demand capacity during extreme cold. Bevington noted, as did National Grid in its report, that this weather condition has not occurred since 1934. Bevington said it is unlikely to happen again for generations due to global warming.

"If you're designing a new facility on the South Shore, would you use 100-year-old flood data to project the likelihood of future flooding? I don't think so," Bevington said. "I suggest going back to the drawing board, ask the weather experts to consult historical weather records to devise a more appropriate worst-day heating demand."