Nixing NYRI

PSC staff says line not needed or helpful

By FRITZ MAYER

ALBANY, NY — In December 2008, they recommended that if a new power line were built, it should parallel the existing Marcy South line. But their updated recommendation said that the power line is not needed and will not be helpful.

The recommendation came from the staff of the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) to the commission itself in testimony from staff members filed on January 9. The PSC will ultimately decide whether New York Regional Interconnect, Inc. (NYRI) should get state permission to build a 190-mile power line through Sullivan County and eight other New York counties.

According to staff testimony, not only is the line unneeded for reliability in the system, but it also might be harmful to parts of the state grid. A specialist named Edward Schrom Jr. said that if the line were put into service, “the result would likely be the shutdown of major generation facilities in the Hudson Valley that are needed to provide power to be transported to Southern New York.” He said if the NYRI line was to subsequently shut down unexpectedly, it would lead to serious concerns for the southern part of the state.

The staff testimony, however, was not all negative for the company. An economics experts testified that the parent companies that own NYRI have the necessary experience to attract investors to the project, and that if the investment environment doesn’t grow significantly worse than it now is, the project is likely to have adequate investment capital to carry through to completion.

But, according to staff, the economic impact will not be beneficial for the state as a whole. In summing up the staff recommendations, James J. de Waal Malefyt, a PSC utility supervisor, said that, early on, downstate customers were likely to save money while upstate customers would lose money, but over all there would be short-term gains. “However,” he said, “when the project is evaluated in the long term and from a total societal cost-benefit perspective, the costs of the NYRI project outweigh the savings.”

In suggesting alternatives to the NRYI line, staff said, “One or more electric generating, natural gas-fired power plants located in New York City or surrounding zones… is preferable to a long transmission line from a reliability perspective.”

PSC staff was not the only group to submit testimony on January 9, which was the final day that testimony was accepted. As many as 18 groups filed comments, including Communities Against Regional Interconnection, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York Thruway Authority.

The PSC must now go through the enormous amount of testimony gathered since the NYRI application for the line was deemed complete in August 2008. It will be several months, at least, before the PSC makes a determination about whether the project will get a green light. If the answer is no, it seems likely that NYRI will appeal the decision to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington, DC, unless portions of the 2005 Energy Act are repealed by the incoming Congress before then.

However, opponents of the line are confident that they will win the issue at the state level. Steve DiMeo, chairman of CARI, told several news outlets that the PSC staff recommendations are an indication that CARI’s nearly three years’ worth of work is paying off.