The old adage “the third time’s a charm,” held true this past week for National Grid in its latest attempt to splice the electronic transmission cable that runs from Block Island to the mainland. National Grid was foiled in its first attempt last spring when the conduit that holds the cable became clogged with “debris” and could not be cleared by the time the company needed to be off the beach and out of the parking lot in time for the summer season.When they came back last fall, the debris was finally cleared, but no weather window presented itself so that the critical step of splicing could be performed. Because of the size of the barge used in the shallow waters off of Fred Benson Town Beach, seas above four feet and winds overapproximately 35 miles per hour would prevent crews from working.NGRID has said it would need at least a five-day window of calm weather to get the job done. It did not get that last fall, and so, they arrived early in April with hopes of finally getting the job done. Locals were skeptical – April can bring intense storms to the island. Overnight, Monday into
