The year the power line issue went national

NYRI is one of many projects that offend residents

By FRITZ MAYER

NORTHEAST — The year 2007 was when anti-power-line activists in the region found allies in other parts of the country in the battle to stop the construction of unwanted electricity lines.

When New York Regional Interconnection (NYRI) announced plans in April 2006 to build a 200-mile power line project through New York State and along the Upper Delaware River Valley, it seemed as if the issue was relevant only to the residents of this region. But as residents began to understand the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which allowed the federal government, in some cases, to override the decisions of state governments in the siting of power lines, it became clear that the issue resonated in many places around the country.

As early as January 2007, Congressman Maurice Hinchey was calling the behavior of NYRI executives and their disregard of the sentiments of New York residents “outrageous,” and he was working on legislation with lawmakers from Virginia and Arizona that would have changed portions of the energy act. Virginia and Arizona were two of the states included in the National Interest Electricity Corridors, which were proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE) in June, and formally adopted in October. The corridor designation is the trigger that could allow companies to do an end run around state regulations.

Hinchey’s legislation was defeated in the house in August, but he has vowed to continue the battle. Also in August, Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer introduced legislation, which would have prevented companies from going ahead with a power line project if it had been shot down by a state agency. The move by the two senators marked a sharper commitment to preventing construction of the NYRI power line than they had shown in the past. Their legislation is still pending.

Opposition to the corridor designation came from all of the 10 states that would be affected by them in the Mid-Atlantic Region and in the Southwest, with Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania taking a strong stand against them. There are two proposed power line projects that would cut across areas of Northeast Pennsylvania. The governors of other states also joined in objecting to the plan, forcing the DOE to authorize “re-hearings” on the corridor designations.

At the state level in New York, the battle between New York lawmakers and NYRI handed a surprising victory to lawmakers. A federal court ruled that a state law passed in November 2006, which prevented NYRI from using eminent domain, was constitutional. Several experts had said that the law was too narrowly drawn, and too specifically targeted to a single company.

In the wake of that decision, NYRI petitioned the New York State Public Service Commission to determine whether the agency had the authority to grant the company the right to use eminent domain to obtain private property. If the PSC responds that it does not have that power, the company would likely try to use that as an argument that it should be allowed to move straight to the federal process to obtain permits for the project, rather than first completing the process with the PSC.