A line in the sand

For those who would hate to see a line of high-voltage transmission towers marching down the banks of the Upper Delaware River, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 presents a big problem. The act requires the designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs), within which any firm applying for permission to run power lines is virtually guaranteed approval. Firms constructing electrical transmission lines in NIETCs can largely bypass environmental review and run roughshod over home rule. If the Upper Delaware River Valley were to receive such a designation, it might even trump the river’s protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

The energy act says that the Secretary of Energy may designate “any geographic area experiencing electric energy transmission capacity constraints or congestion that adversely affects consumers” as an NIETC. New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) argues that there are capacity constraints in southeast New York, and proposes to bring power from the north through the river valley or along the Millennium Pipeline to that congested metropolitan area. If, as is likely, the Department of Energy (DOE) agrees that southeastern New York is in need of energy, the chances that it will turn NYRI down flat are negligible. Power lines could, indeed, be constructed along the Upper Delaware.

But we don’t have to give up just yet. Though the exact criteria for designating an NIETC have not yet been drawn up, the DOE has made it clear that NIETCs are not “specific routes for transmission facilities” but “generalized electricity paths between two locations.” The two locations specified by NYRI as the endpoints of the requested NIETC are the National Grid’s Edic substation in Marcy, Oneida County, and Central Hudson Gas & Electric’s Rock Tavern substation in New Windsor, Orange County. NYRI claims that the two transmission routes specified in its proposal lie within the corridor defined by those two points. But a quick look at the map shows that the Delaware River valley is about as circuitous a route as it could have chosen—indeed, some of the proposed path actually strays outside New York State.

What is at stake here is how broadly the DOE chooses to define NIETCs. If it does so without limiting how far a transmission line can wander laterally in getting from one end of a corridor to the other, it will set a precedent that will effectively allow power companies to locate their lines anywhere. The Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB), an organization of 12 western states and three western Canadian provinces, recognized this danger in comments submitted to the DOE, arguing that NIETC designations should be geographically specific. The board writes that vague designation “invites abuse, particularly since the condemnation of private property is involved... a sponsor could propose a line virtually anywhere and claim it is in the NIETC.”

In light of the above, NYRI’s request that the Upper Delaware be deemed a NIETC could prove to be a national test case for how much leeway corporations have under the new energy act to seize any land they choose, regardless of state and local objections. This raises the hope that local groups like the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition (UDPC), which is fighting the NYRI proposal, may be able to find national partners, like the WIEB, who will see this case as an opportunity to draw a line in the sand. Such partners could include environmental groups, libertarians and state- and local-rights advocates.

In looking for allies, it is important to note that we cannot automatically count on help from our representatives in Washington. As argued above, some pathway connecting upstate to southeast New York will almost certainly be approved as an NIETC. That means that somebody’s ox will be gored, and if a power line is built to the east of us—geographically the only option— it will be built through a more densely populated area. We can appeal to Hinchey, Clinton and Schumer, but we need to remember that residents along any alternate route will probably be appealing with equal fervor, and we may find ourselves outnumbered.

That means that if we win it will have to be on the merits of our case. We believe that the conflict of power line construction along the Upper Delaware with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, combined with the abovementioned concerns about geographical vagueness, give us a good start. But we will also need some smart organizing. Groups from canoe liveries to fishing interests have already signed up with the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition in their effort to fight the proposed power line, but more participation will be needed if we are to keep the river valley from becoming the latest casualty of this nation’s energy addiction.

Dr. Punnybone

Relaxed Fit