Natural Gas Standoff Hamstrings NYC Business Upstarts, New Housing

  • National Grid refuses sign-ups in faceoff over pipeline denial
  • Owners of new hamburger joint say it could cost them $400,000
Photographer: David McNew/Getty Images
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

About $400,000. That’s how much two New York City deli owners say National Grid Plc may cost them by refusing to supply natural gas to a new burger restaurant they’re planning in Brooklyn.

The men are victims of a complex face-off between the utility that supplies gas to the metropolitan area and state regulators. New York and New Jersey have denied approvals for the $1 billion Williams Cos. pipeline expansion that National Grid has said is needed to boost their gas capacity.