Staying on the line: NYRI developments

A new group is formed to battle NYRI power lines; residents urged to apply for party status

By FRITZ MAYER

COCHECTON, NY — A group of residents in Cochecton has launched a new web site aimed at blocking the installation of high-voltage power lines in Sullivan County and seven other counties in New York by New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI).

Amy Miller, a web designer, said she and others in the neighborhood, including some who live near the Columbia Gas Line, got together and created the website www.stopNYRI.com to help educate residents about what actions citizens can take to stop the project. The route preferred by developers would take the lines through the county along the path known as the Columbia Gas Line.

Miller said the site will focus on tasks that residents can perform in about five minutes. Among the group’s efforts is to urge residents to write letters to Senator Hillary Clinton, who has yet to take a stand on the project. Another project is to convince residents to apply for “party status” in the permitting process that has begun at the New York Public Service Commission (PSC).

Party status

When NYRI filed their application to build the power line with the PSC on May 31, a 30-day window opened in which virtually any resident with an interest in the project can file for party status. According to Anne Dalton, a spokesperson with the PSC, a resident need not live along the proposed route to apply, and the process is meant to be inclusive. A person can apply by writing a letter to Jaclyn A. Brilling, Secretary, NYS Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223-1350. Dalton said persons who apply for party status will receive information on all upcoming proceedings related to the NYRI power line project and will have the opportunity to speak at PSC public hearings.

No early NIETC designation

Anti-NYRI forces were celebrating as a “victory” last week the denial of the Department of Energy (DOE) in Washington, D.C. of the NYRI application for early designation as a National Interest Electricity Transmission Corridor (NIETC). But NYRI spokesman Jonathon Pierce said, “It’s not a setback for us at all; it’s exactly what we expected.”

According to a statement from Poonum Agrawal, the manager of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, the DOE decided to “defer action on all early requests for NIETC designation until after it has completed its national transmission congestion study, which the Department plans to complete by early August 2006. The Department is seeking to devote full attention to completing the technical aspects of the national congestion study, prior to designating NIETC corridors.”

A NIETC designation would be helpful to NYRI should the PSC not grant the company the right to build the power line. If the PSC denies the company’s permits, or if progress is not made in the year following application for a NIETC project, the company may be able to circumvent the decisions of state agencies by appealing to a federal agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) .