OSWEGO – Two years after the Oswego Common Council denied National Grid’s petition for a noise ordinance, it passed Resolution No. 176 a different noise ordinance, marking the start of National Grid’s project to replace natural gas pipeline 55.
While both requests were for a noise ordinance, the 2021 plan from National Grid is vastly different then the one from 2019. Previously, National Grid was going to drill much closer to residential houses near Burden Drive and Route 48, according to the Seventh Ward’s councilor, Rob Corradino.
This would inconvenience many City of Oswego residents due to construction that was both louder and closer to home. The approved plan has National Grid drilling through the river to replace the pipeline. Beyond the location, National Grid drew up a new plan to reduce noise and overall discomfort.
“Because diesel generators make a lot of noise, they decided to not use as many generators to power the equipment that they will use to drill under the river,” Corradino said. “They’re just going to tie into the powerlines.”
While somewhat noisy, the job is necessary even though the pipeline is not that old, having been installed in the 1980s. Regardless of this, according to Corradino, the pipe does not abide by new federal mandates that require gas pipes to be monitored due to recent gas leaks underground and “explosions” as Corradino described one in Boston, Massachusetts from a few years ago that “blew up” an entire city block.
“The whole purpose of this new pipeline is, it’s a federal mandate … asking all gas suppliers to have the ability to inspect pipelines,” Corradinon said. “Because this pipeline under the river has a kink in it [from the original construction], they can’t put this remote … vehicle that would go into the pipeline and examine it.”
Another key factor according to Corradino is the length of the route. Because National Grid will now drill under the river, it is a shorter distance. As a result, Corradino expects there to be less active drilling time. Despite this, it is a pretty major project, according to Mayor Billy Barlow, but it is something “they’re equipped to handle,” as National Grid has done it before.
As for the project itself, Barlow expects it to start in the middle of the summer and span “long into” 2022. Barlow added it will take that entire construction season and possibly more. While the project will take long, the city preferred this in comparison to the 2019 plan which asked for a noise ordinance for 12 hours of construction a day.
“We asked for the times to be restricted, instead of a 12 hour window, let’s to a 10 to eight hour window,” Barlow said. “Their construction layout area was a pretty large area. We asked for that to be condensed quite a bit and for Grid to be a little more sensitive to the country club and their needs. And Grid was very cooperative and addressed all of our concerns.”
The Oswego Country Club’s concerns were made back in 2019, as the construction was set to take place near there, in addition to impacting homes in the “Syracuse Avenue, Woodbridge area,” as Barlow said. Aside from the noise, dust was another issue that blocked the plan at the time.
While the adjustments from National Grid are overall a net positive for the city, as it has limited the amount of people it will impact and even lessened the overall severity of the impact, citizens will still be affected. It is impossible to keep construction completely quiet, but as Corradino said, “National Grid has to get it done, there is no choice.” Even with this requirement, Corradino feels for those in the city that will be negatively affected by the work.
“Now, I don’t want to make light of the people that are going to be impacted. Their lifestyle and quiet enjoyment of life is going to be impacted, that’s not a good thing,” Corradino said. “I encourage any person in the Seventh Ward who is having any problems with the construction to contact me or the city engineer.”
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