Pegasus announces power line plan

By DAVID HULSE

RIVER VALLEY — In an October 6 press release, a Toronto, Canada firm, Pegasus Power Systems formally announced its intention to use the right-of-way corridor of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad to channel a 500-kilovolt, direct current transmission line connecting power stations at Marcy (near Utica) and New York City.

But a railroad spokesman said Tuesday that they don’t know anything about the Pegasus project.

The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) determined last month it was an “incompatible use,” and “clear and direct threat” to the scenic river project.

While the National Park Service (NPS) had revealed communication from Pegasus, Monday’s statement was the first public evidence of what the developer identifies as the Niagara Reinforcement Project project.

Pegasus president Richard A. Muddiman wrote to the UDC on October 1 offering some assurances of the company’s plans. Muddiman said earlier conversations with NPS Superintendent David Forney and UDC Executive Director Bill Douglass had sensitized the developers to environmental concerns.

“From our perspective, the primary concerns related to the visibility of the transmission system. This is not to say that other concerns relating to health and safety and environmental issues in general are not relevant,” Muddiman wrote.

In response, Muddiman pledged to bury the transmission line throughout its 73.4-mile passage through the federally protected river valley, to consult with the NPS and other interested parties before making formal construction applications, to share technical and environmental information and to publicize environmental impact studies. “Within this context, we are extremely well informed…,” he wrote.

Rudy Husband, director of public relations for Norfolk-Southern says that Pegasus will also have to consult further with the railroad. While Pegasus has claimed to have already secured its right-of-ways, Husband says Norfolk-Southern is not aware of any such project along its right-of-way. “We had discussions with them months ago, but nothing since then,” Husband said.

Just who the “we” in Pegasus is raises another issue.

The engineering for the project will be provided by Teshmont Consultants, a prominent Manitoba engineering firm. Teshmont is said to have provided engineering services for projects representing more than 50 percent of the total worldwide installed HV (high voltage) DC capacity.

In a brief telephone interview last week, Muddiman said Pegasus is relatively small operation, but a leader in its field and watched closely by competitors. “People go through our garbage. [People from] huge U.S.-based conglomerates, with all the money and no initiative,” he said.

This is one reason why Pegasus has no Internet presence. “Why should we? So we can give away information to our competitors?” Muddiman asked.

Muddiman said that size of his firm should not be confused with the financial backing for the project, which he frankly characterized as very extensive and ready to mitigate issues along the way. “We want to help the park area…. We’re going to leave it better than we found it,” he said.

That could also mean money for local governments.

At the October 2 meeting of the UDC, Tusten representative Charles Wieland said the Town of Tusten is ready to reassess the railroad property for the increased value. “It could pay some taxes,” he said.

Wieland queried Forney and Douglass if they still opposed the project as a buried transmission line instead of one with upright and visible towers. “Are you opposed or are you saying wait and see?”

“We haven’t made that determination,” said Forney adding, “Before we make a determination, we’ll need analysis. We’ll want the full environmental impact study done and then we will determine the intent of the [river management] plan,” he said.

In September, UDC declared that the project, then thought to be an overhead power line, was an “incompatible use,” and a “clear and direct threat” to the scenic river project. A cover letter included with the UDC distribution electronic version of the Pegasus press release on October 6 restated that position.

But later on Monday Douglass said that while the basic position is that the project is incompatible, the reality is more like “wait and see.”

“We need to look at the intent of the river management plan and research the material from the time it was drafted to see if that ‘incompatible’ language was solely for overhead transmission lines or if it was meant to be complete in any form,” he said.

The NPS power of eminent domain was envisioned as the ultimate enforcement tool in the plan, in areas where local zoning could not or did not resolve issues. With the project requiring only state regulators approvals, Forney has said that NPS is without means of intervening.

However, Delaware River Basin Commission UDC delegate Clark Ruppert last week suggested that the project was “reviewable” by the DRBC, where a federal delegate is seated.

Douglass said the issue of the two executive orders signed after the approval of the river plan by the governors of New York and Pennsylvania also has yet to be explored. Those orders directed state agencies to comply with the goals of the river plan in their decisions.

Douglass said, “We are still very early in what will likely be a long process, and the fact that they have offered to bury it is worth considering.”

The burial of 73 miles of HVDC transmission line has never been done before, Muddiman confirmed.

That new aspect also makes comparisons of issues with this project to any other project difficult to find. While much material is published concerning high-voltage transmission lines and comparing AC and DC transmission, the discussion is centered entirely on overhead transmission lines.

For decades there have been published concerns about the impacts of electromagnet fields given off by transmission lines, and their contribution to incidents of childhood leukemia. However, published sources unanimously find there is no accepted scientific data supporting those concerns.

Additionally, technical documentation on overhead transmission lines also seem to agree that DC lines produce smaller fields and thus can be routed along narrower rights-of-way.

Whether the line would displace homes or businesses along the oftentimes narrow right-of-way, or how a line would be buried in the solid rock shelves that carry the rail bed in many places are issues yet to be addressed.

In their release Pegasus emphasized the importance of the Delaware right-of-way as opposed to one along the Hudson River, in part because it avoided “high density urban populations residing between Tarrytown and Manhattan,” which “would make installation problematic, costly and extremely disruptive.”

Surprisingly, they also saw the Delaware route as advantageous because on the Hudson, “In some cases, especially along the river, there is no road access, challenging geography exists and sensitive environmental areas are to be crossed.”

Pegasus concludes that the new circuit will act as a “back-bone” for the region, New York City and New Jersey, stabilizing, reinforcing and benefiting each of the surrounding networks. They claim that the new line would reduce congestion on existing overhead AC transmission lines, create more reliability in service as DC circuits are easier to manage than AC circuits and have no strong electro-magnetic fields. Lower power costs regionally and reduced pollution in the city are also promised.

UDC Westfall delegate Allan Bowers wasn’t buying it. “The tobacco companies will tell you there’s no harm in smoking, too. This is just another thing that has no benefit for us, just harm.”

Phil Chase wondered about impacts below the park area. “I assume they’ll follow the railroad south. What about the impacts on the City of Port Jervis? It’s not just the [river] corridor,” he said.