NYRI files power line application

New York state senators circle the wagons

By FRITZ MAYER

NEW YORK STATE — New York Regional Interconnect, the company that wants to build new power lines through Sullivan and seven other counties, filed an application on May 31 with the New York Public Service Commission (PSC). The action kicked off a 30-day period during which organizations with an interest in the project can apply with the PSC to become a “formal party” to the proceedings.

Formal party status means the organizations will have a role in the PSC public hearings held in the coming months.

The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) passed a resolution at its monthly meeting on June 1 to authorize the UDC chairman and executive director to apply for formal party status. At the same meeting, National Park Service Superintendent Dave Forney announced that his agency would also apply for that status. Earlier in the evening, Forney told The River Reporter, that while the park service normally does not have jurisdiction over activities that take place off the water, it can take action in cases where there is a “direct and adverse affect” to the river. If power lines were erected on either of the proposed routes, they would pose such a threat to the river, according to Forney.

Forney also said that, while the NYRI application would be available in 30 libraries along the proposed power line route, that was not sufficient to meet the needs of interested parties. He said the park service would request Internet access to the 1,150-page document, or a copy on CD.

UDC executive director Bill Douglass was absent from the meeting because he had been invited by state Senator John Bonacic to a meeting in Norwich, where a group of state and local lawmakers were plotting a strategy to defeat the power line project. Laurie Ramie, the UDC public relations specialist, said the group’s goals included forming a steering committee and discussing the engagement of legal representation.

The meeting was facilitated by the state Association of Counties, which has been active in coordinating the activities of officials in the eight counties the power lines would traverse.

In a press release, NYRI claimed that the proposed high voltage power lines would “provide New York State consumers with an $11.7 billion benefit over the project’s initial 20 years of operation” through decreased electricity costs. Critics say the lines are unnecessary, and the growing need for power in the suburbs of New York City could be better met with renewable energy sources located closer to the intended area of use.

New York DEC takes a stand

The route for the power lines preferred by NYRI executives no longer travels along the banks of the Upper Delaware River, but instead is a more inland route that follows the path of the Millennium Pipeline. But that route would take the lines through more than 1,000 feet of the Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management area in Sullivan County. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has concerns about the lines, whether buried or above ground. In each case, the construction of the lines would have negative impacts on habitat for protected wildlife such as eagles and rattlesnakes. In a letter dated May 16, a DEC official wrote to NYRI the following: “In summary, the DEC staff opposes any utility crossings which would traverse any portion of the Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area.”