Both sides turn up the heat in NYRI battle

Hinchey introduces federal legislation; NYRI files lawsuit against New York

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — In a move aimed at curtailing the growing power of energy companies, Congressman Maurice Hinchey introduced legislation that would roll back some of the “special protections” he said power line companies now enjoy. He said the legislation “would effectively stop the New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) project from moving forward.”

Hinchey sponsored two separate bills. The first would repeal a section of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy to designate National Interest Electricity Transmission Corridors (NIETC). The second bill would strip the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of the ability to “grant eminent domain authority to projects such as the one proposed by NYRI.”

A third bill, co-sponsored by Hinchey, would ensure that areas such as the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River are protected from having power lines placed within their boundaries.

At a news conference at the Sullivan County Government Center on January 5, Hinchey called the “lack of concern” NYRI officials showed toward residents and property owners “outrageous, bordering on arrogance.”

Hinchey, a Democrat, said he was working on the bills with a group of bipartisan lawmakers, including two others from New York State, as well as two from Virginia and one from Arizona where NIETC projects are also under consideration.

As an array of local politicians and activists from several citizen groups looked on, Hinchey predicted that New York Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer would support similar legislation in the Senate, and the bills might be passed sometime this summer.

The press conference came on the heels of a February 1 announcement that NYRI filed a lawsuit against the State of New York in federal court in Albany. On October 3, 2006, former Governor George Pataki signed a law that would prohibit NYRI from using eminent domain to secure land for the power line. The 200-mile-long project will pass through the lands of many private property owners, and NYRI project manager William May said the project would be impossible to construct without the use of eminent domain.

The lawsuit claimed the law discriminates against NYRI and therefore violates the company’s rights under the U.S. Constitution. NYRI counsel Leonard Singer said, “It’s unconstitutional for the legislature to pass a law that targets one person or company or singles them out for different treatment.”

Hinchey recognized the lawsuit during his comments and said that if the courts did throw out the law, he was confident that state lawmakers in Albany would pass a new legislation that would achieve the same goal.