Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A bill that currently sits on the desk of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, awaiting her signature, is set to repeal the 100-foot rule, which requires utility companies to cover the cost of new gas service connections located within 100 feet of an existing main line for customers who want one.
The governor has until Thursday to either sign this repeal into law or veto the bill, leaving the 100-foot rule in tact.
Phil Nanula, president of the Buffalo Niagara Builders Association (BNBA) says this has been a procedure and a process in place for over 60 years, but is now being singled out, even after the state has paused its pursuit to ban the use of natural gas. He feels this is an unfair appeal, because the cost associated to install the first 100 feet of gas line for all homes in Western New York has been shared in that category and spread over 60 years.
"The amount isn't a heavy hit on each house every year, and everyone that lives in a home in Western New York is participating in this over the last 60 years. So now to want to exclude mostly new home buyers and maybe some existing homes that need to add a gas line for one reason or another... is somewhat punitive," said Nanula in an interview with WBEN.
Nanula says it's an unfair appeal, especially in an environment when the state has been calling for more homes built and to build them more affordably.
"To hit people and the costs that are being bantered, this is something we've never been told what the cost was, because it hasn't happened in my lifetime," Nanula noted. "When you talk to the utilities - National Fuel, National Grid and NYSEG - they all have different answers. But the numbers are ranging from a low of about $3,000 to a high of $10,000 to basically just have a gas line run from the road to the connection at the house."
One concern for Nanula with the possible repeal of the 100-foot rule is not knowing the timing that the governor will impose with this bill.
"She could approve it and say it's going to be a year from now, but if she approves it in any event, it would mean that anybody after the date that she sets it, it would need to be complied with and would need to fund that charge," Nanula explained. "The way builders work, typically, is we have information in our contracts that say we're basing the pricing of your home based on current law, current building codes, and everything that we know as of today. If there's an abrupt change in that, it's going to cause people to incur more cost."
Nanula is also a part of the Borad of Directors with the New York State Builders Association. In conjunction with the BNBA, they have issued a statement to the governor asking her to veto this bill.
"I've seen letters from both Senate and Assembly, mostly the Republican Party, but there has been some Democratic support. For example, locally, Bill Conrad has supported this to be vetoed. So it is getting attention, and this was approved by the Senate and Assembly quite some time ago, I think sometime this summer, and it only went to the governor's office last week," Nanula noted.
While Nanula strongly believes the 100-foot rule and the natural gas ban are tied together, he doesn't believe Gov. Hochul will consider them tied together. He still believes the ruling on this should be suspended until the outcome of the lawsuit surrounding the state's natural gas ban is determined.
"If the gas ban is deemed to be illegal, then this should not be approved," Nanula said. "She might look at it totally separately, but this was an appeasement to the environmentalists that were upset that the original HEAT Act was virtually gutted. I mean, it got opposition across the entire state by both Republicans and Democrats, and in the last hours of the last sessions before they took off, this got put together as strictly just this one item, and the original HEAT Act was put aside."