Joe Murphy of National Grid appeared before the Town Council last week and told the group his company was planning to begin operations to splice the sea2shore cable on April 5. The two-way cable connects the island to the mainland and carries electricity between the substation on Block Island and the electric grid on the other side. Electricity arrives to the substation via a similar electric cable from Orsted’s offshore wind farm.
The council had an easement for consideration, to allow National Grid to stage equipment and work out of the north parking lot at Fred Benson Town Beach. National Grid was last on the island in the fall, attempting to splice the cable, but had to abandon the project due to inclement weather.
Council Member Martha Ball said she would “be a broken record,” and asked how things were going with “straightening out the North Parking lot?” Ball has maintained for quite some time that when National Grid returned the parking lot to its original condition after its last round of work, the lot was not the same as before.Town Manager Maryanne Crawford told the council the cost to National Grid for the easement was $26,000 plus
