Con Ed’s Scarsdale Pipeline Saga Takes a Troubling Turn

(Updated September 21, 2026) A meeting with Con Edison officials in Scarsdale on September 15 was intended to appease angry customers. Instead, it left residents with even more questions—and concerns that were far more serious than anyone had imagined.

As the story unfolded, it became clear that the installation of a high-pressure gas transmission line beneath busy streets in Scarsdale has done more thant disrupt traffic for years. The installation has damaged homeowner's private property and now there are questions about the quality of the pipe welds. We learned that Con Ed will be re-opening the street to inspect a sampling of these welds.

So, in addition to the aggravation and damage to their sewer lines, homeowners now have another concern: whether the high-pressure gas line running beneath their streets was properly installed in the first place.

Here’s how we got here.

The Gas Pipeline

In 2021, Con Edison announced plans to install a high-pressure gas transmission line from White Plains through Scarsdale, Eastchester and Mount Vernon, eventually connecting to Astoria, Queens. Although the pipeline would run through densely populated Westchester neighborhoods, it will be used by many municipalities.

Read the original Scarsdale10583 story

Work began in White Plains in 2021, and the project encountered so many problems that it took three years to install the pipeline from the White Plains border to Fenimore Road. There, underground water pipes prevented Con Edison from installing the gas line through the intersection.

The work then shifted to the Fox Meadow side, where crews installed part of the line along Fox Meadow Road before the project was halted altogether.

The 36" wide pipeline is not currently in service because the rest of the Scarsdale connection has not been completed, nor has it been connected to the southern portions of the system in Eastchester and Mount Vernon.

At the September 15 meeting, Con Edison officials said they plan to extend the line down Fox Meadow Road, to Crane Road and then south along Route 22, with completion now projected for 2029.

One has to wonder: Is it really feasible to shut down portions of the Post Road, a state-owned north-south corridor through Westchester, for years to complete this project?

Property Damage

In September 2025, it came to light that construction of the gas line had damaged the lateral sewer lines serving homes along Walworth Avenue.

After pressure from homeowners, advocacy by the Village and Assemblymember Amy Paulin, Con Edison agreed to conduct video inspections of the sewer laterals at affected homes to determine whether there was “crushing or sagging of the sewer lateral replacement pipes and/or separation of sewer lateral replacements from the existing portions of sewer laterals.”

At the September 15, 2026 meeting, a Con Edison spokeswoman reported that the company had conducted 118 video inspections at 82 unique sites.

But Con Edison would not say how many homes had actually been damaged or required repairs—repairs that residents estimate can cost approximately $40,000 per house.

When residents asked Con Edison to conduct a second video inspection after repairs were completed, the utility refused.

And then the story got even worse.

More Excavations

Con Edison officials told residents that they now need to excavate the buried gas line to inspect its welds—the connections that hold the pipeline together.

How many excavations? Approximately 40 locations along the route.

The utility suggested that these excavations and inspections could be performed at the same time as repairs to the damaged sewer laterals.

And the timeline?

The fall of 2026.

That’s now.

Even more troubling was the reason Con Edison said it needed to dig up streets that have already been repeatedly excavated and repaved.

Were the Welds Defective?

A Con Edison representative said the additional inspections were necessary because of “fraudulent reporting.”

By Whom?

That question became particularly important when we learned what had happened to some of the inspectors responsible for inspecting gas pipeline welds.

The Inspectors

In August 2025, federal prosecutors announced that two safety inspectors had been charged with fraud for allegedly fabricating hundreds of gas pipeline test results in the Bronx and Westchester County. Here is the indictment:

According to the indictment, the inspectors were paid to conduct safety inspections designed to ensure that pipeline welds did not contain defects that could cause gas leaks or explosions.

Instead, prosecutors allege, they engaged in a practice known as “radaring.”

The indictment describes the practice as radiographing the same weld twice and then passing one set of films off as though it came from a different weld. In other words, an inspector could radiograph Weld A twice and then claim that the second set of films documented Weld B—even though Weld B had never been inspected.

According to federal prosecutors, hundreds of welds on utility pipelines installed throughout the Bronx and Westchester County between approximately 2016 and 2023 were affected by this practice. The indictment alleges that the inspectors did not actually inspect those welds but nevertheless submitted invoices for the inspections, which were paid by the utility.

Con Ed asserts that this case has no connection to the work done in Scarsdale, but we do know that the Public Service Commission is requiring Con Ed to excavate the pipe to re-examine the welds.

And the potential consequences are serious.

The indictment states that failing to identify and repair a defect before a pipeline was placed into service could result in “critical failures,” including gas leaks or explosions.

That raises an obvious question for Scarsdale residents:

Are any of the welds on the pipeline buried beneath our streets defective?

Con Edison says it now needs to excavate approximately 40 locations along the route to inspect a sampling of the welds, as required by the Public Service Commission.

Responding after the meeting, Allan Drury of Con Edison sent us the following comment, denying that the Scarsdale pipeline was involved in the fraudulent inspections. He explained, "Con Edison reported the fraud (none which took place in Scarsdale) to the PSC and instituted additional reviews of weld inspections throughout our territory, not just where the fraudulent conduct occurred."

So Where Does This Leave Scarsdale?

Con Edison needs permits from the Village of Scarsdale to excavate the pipeline and inspect the welds. The utility is also waiting for Village permits to tear up the streets again so it can repair the damaged sewer laterals.

The delay is particularly frustrating for homeowners who want to sell their houses but cannot complete a sale without the sewer lateral certificate required by the Village to transfer title.

And there is another complication.

Con Edison’s attorney told residents that anyone who wants the utility to repair their sewer lateral will have to sign a release absolving Con Edison of future liability for damage caused by the gas-line construction.

In other words, if additional damage from the pipeline installation is discovered several years from now, the homeowner could be left responsible for the cost of repairing it.

Elizabeth Lawrence of Walworth Avenue told the Con Ed Reps: "In terms of that waiver, you want us all to sign. We want to be able to have a community meeting with our fellow residents and our community leaders, such as the mayor to look at it, examine what Con Ed is presenting us, and whether or not we need to sign that waiver." The Con Ed rep responded, "We will be sending each of those homeowners a draft release for their review. I have been trying to convey to each person I've spoken to about it that they should have their attorneys review those releases to advise them." Lawrence shot back, ""Well, perhaps we don't want to spend the money to get an attorney to do that. Perhaps we don't want that. No one asked us if we wanted these streets to be excavated. No one asked us if it was a right, and then suddenly we're presented with a problem, and that we spend money to resolve that problem. That's an issue to me."

Con Edison has left Scarsdale with a gas line that currently goes nowhere.

When completed and placed into service, the pipeline will carry high-pressure gas beneath densely populated residential neighborhoods.

At the same time, questions remain about the quality of the original construction on the the welds. What is the risk of an explosion?

Though Con Ed says a licensed plumber will do the sewer lateral repairs, the contractor that performed the original work, Network Infrastructure, has been retained to do the excavations and continue the project, even as the Village continues to question the quality of the original work.

Meanwhile, Scarsdale residents, along with all rates payers, are paying increased utility rates to support a massive gas transmission project being built beneath streets that already have aging infrastructure and some of the heaviest traffic in the area.

After everything residents learned at the September 15 meeting, one question seems unavoidable:

Has anyone called the Public Service Commission?

Commenting after the meeting, Scarsdale Mayor Justin Arest said, "The Village has been actively engaged with Con Edison for many months regarding the sewer lateral damage and other impacts associated with this project, and we will remain steadfast in advocating for both the residents directly affected and the broader community.

More recently, as the scope of the weld reinspection issue became clearer, including the prospect of additional excavation and potential repairs, that issue became another important focus of our ongoing discussions with Con Edison. Assemblymember Paulin and I have also been in direct contact with the Department of Public Service and the Public Service Commission to ensure that our community’s concerns are being heard at the State level.

We expect this heightened level of engagement, both with Con Edison and with State regulators, to lead to greater transparency, stronger communication, and better outcomes for our residents. While we are encouraged by the increased attention these issues are receiving, we are proceeding with appropriate caution and will continue to press for answers, accountability, and meaningful protections for our community.”