UDPC gains new allies against NYRI

Columbia University law school signs on

By FRITZ MAYER

RIVER VALLEY — Despite Governor George Pataki’s recent signing of legislation that would prevent a proposed power line project from being built, the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition (UDPC) remains active in the fight against the project.

In one new development, a department of Columbia University has also become actively involved in opposing the New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) power line plan.

Edward Lloyd, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at Columbia University School of Law, said that law students presented a brief to the Department of Energy (DOE) in Washington DC. The brief was prepared at the request of the UDPC, a river valley activist group, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a nonprofit organization that protects the Delaware River and its tributary watersheds.

The brief specifically relates to the congestion study completed by the DOE this summer. The study found, not surprisingly, that the two areas nationwide with the greatest need for new electricity supplies are an area in the Northeast, stretching from northern Virginia to Vermont, and an area on the West Coast surrounding Los Angeles.

Lloyd said one of the main points of the clinic’s brief is that there was insufficient information in the congestion study to allow meaningful public comment. The study included a map with three large arrows suggesting that additional electricity for New York City and it surrounding suburbs could come from the north through upstate New York, from the east through Pennsylvania or from the south through Virginia and Maryland. Lloyd said more detail is needed.

He added that the clinic is also working with architectural students to examine the impacts of the proposed power lines towers on the environmentally sensitive Upper Delaware River Valley.

This activity comes in the wake of Pataki’s signing legislation that will prevent NRYI executives from using the power of eminent domain to acquire land for the power line project.

Pat Carullo, one of the founding members of the UDPC, said that many of the groups fighting the power lines “understand that the legislation will be challenged in court and is likely to be overturned.” He added that Pataki is responsible for creating the environment in which a company such as NYRI is encouraged to operate because Pataki led the campaign to deregulate the New York electricity industry.

Meanwhile, other groups, such as the Sierra Club, continue to follow the issue at the national level because of conflicts between the 2005 Energy Act and federal legislation such as the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act that protects selected rivers that possess “outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values.”

The 2005 Energy Act allows the DOE to designate areas as National Interest Electronic Transmission Corridors (NIETC). It is unclear whether an NIETC designation would supersede the protection offered by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act or similar legislation.

On September 30, Troy Bystrom, treasurer of the UDPC, spoke to a Northeast regional leadership group of the Sierra Club about developments regarding NYRI and the proposal for the power lines. Bystrom said if NYRI, using NIETC designation, is able to build power lines in the Delaware River Valley, it would open the door for lines to be built through all protected areas, including national parks.