Washington can expect lawsuits challenging energy corridor policy
Submitted by Master Admin on Tue, 10/09/2007 - 1:31pm.
Threats to the Catskills
Washington can expect lawsuits challenging energy corridor policy
By: Michael McGuire, Sun Staff Writer 
Published: October 8th, 2007
CHENANGO COUNTY – Energy officials in Washington can expect legal challenges to be brought against a recent federal policy that could breath life into the New York Regional Interconnect power line if the controversial bid dies at the state level, local power line opposition leaders say.
The anti-NYRI front wants Governor Eliot Spitzer and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to support the lawsuits.
“We call upon Governor Spitzer and Attorney General Cuomo to join with us in these legal battles to protect the rights of New Yorkers against the incursion of federally imposed projects and to protect the right of the state to determine its own energy policy,” said Hubbardsville resident Chris Rossi, a co-chair for the Chenango and Madison County group Stop NYRI.
Using unprecedented authority granted by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, Tuesday the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) completed a year and a half-long debate and finalized its two “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor” designations. Inside the corridors – a “Mid-Atlantic” that stretches from Virginia to northern New York state, and a “Southwest” that covers parts of California and Arizona – the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will have the authority, under certain circumstances, to override a state’s power line permitting process and review a project like NYRI’s – even if it has already been denied.Several attempts by a group of New York’s congressional representatives in Washington to reverse the corridor policy by way of legislation have yet to succeed.
A bill that would drastically reduce FERC’s powers inside the corridor introduced by U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton in August is still awaiting a vote. That legislation reportedly went to Senate committees last week for review, Schumer’s office said Friday.
http://www.evesun.com/news/stories/2007-10-08/2835/Washington-can-expect-lawsuits-challenging-energy-corridor-policy/
CARI vows to continue power line fight
Submitted by Master Admin on Tue, 10/09/2007 - 1:38pm.
CARI vows to continue power line fight
Monticello – Even though the federal Department of Energy has approved creation of a Mid-Atlantic National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor, which could pave the way for the NYRI power line, members of Communities Against Regional Interconnect (CARI) say they will not give up their battle to keep the line from being built.
“The NIETC decision was flawed in process and substance and the CARI’s fight to block this proposal is far from over,” said CARI Chairman Steve DiMeo of Oneida County.
Christopher Cunningham, chairman of the Sullivan County Legislature, is critical of the DOE process. “The DOE failed to consider meaningful input by thousands of individuals and groups that responded to the request for comments. The opposition to this unnecessary takeover of State authority on transmission line siting is widespread and growing.”
Cunningham said the biggest concern is the power of land seizure by eminent domain.
CARI is reviewing the designation documents and discussing options for action with potential partners in the opposition.
The counties of Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Orange and Sullivan are members of CARI. The citizens’ group members of CARI are the Upper Delaware Council; the Upstate New York Citizens Alliance; the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition; STOP NYRI, Inc. and SayNo2NYRI, Inc.
Officials critical of corridor that may help NYRI
Officials critical of corridor that may help NYRI
By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
The Bush Administration's announcement this week that it is creating two massive corridors where electric-transmission lines could be placed over the objections of states was lauded by NYRI and criticized by opponents, including two Otsego County representatives.
Called National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, one is situated in the Southwest and the other in Northeast, including parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New York, all of New Jersey, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
Chenango, Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie counties are among 47 New York counties in the eastern transmission line corridor, which includes about three-quarters of the state.
Within the corridor, investors may propose building transmission lines and the plans can be approved by the federal Department of Energy if state agencies do not approve them within one year.
In announcing this expansion of federal power, DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman stated, ``The goal is simple, to keep reliable supplies of electric energy flowing to all Americans. By designating these national corridors, we are encouraging stakeholders in these regions to identify solutions and take prompt action.''
Otsego County Rep. Donald Lindberg, R-Worcester, said he opposes the NIETC for Otsego County.
``I think it's ridiculous,'' the board chairman said. ``Whatever happened to home rule?''
The New York Regional Interconnection proposal is a 200-mile-long, 400,000-volt power line that investors plan to build from Marcy in Oneida County to New Windsor in Orange County.
The firm, New York Regional Interconnect Inc. has signed a contract with the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway of Cooperstown to run its line from Oneida County to just north of Norwich. The line would then follow a right-of-way belonging to the New York State Electric & Gas Corp. across Chenango County into Delaware County.
On Friday, a spokesman for the firm, David Kalson, e-mailed The Daily Star, stating that in NYRI's view, ``The DOE designations represent an important step in encouraging modernization of New York State's transmission infrastructure that will increase reliability and efficiency, and make possible greater use of clean, renewable energy sources.''
The DOE's decision will ``encourage states like New York to identify solutions and take action against the pressing problem of transmission congestion,'' he wrote.
Kalson noted that states have primary responsibility for siting lines, and the federal government only becomes involved if state agencies don't approve proposals.
``Federal, state and private sector studies all show a congestion problem in New York state that causes serious economic impacts for millions of consumers,'' Kalson said.
Last month, the New York Independent Systems Operator noted that NYRI could help deliver more electricity to downstate New York, but the agency also found that there are proposals that would cost ratepayers less.
Chris Rossi, co-chairwoman of Stop NYRI, Inc., also sent an e-mail to The Daily Star. In it, she wrote approval of the corridor plan does not mean that NYRI will be built.
``By creating NIET Corridors, the federal government will be able to usurp states' rights to regulate what goes on within their boundaries,'' she wrote. ``They will be able take your property by eminent domain; destroy recreational, cultural and historic sites throughout New York; and subvert New York state's progressive energy policies.''
Rossi said that power plants should be situated closer to the people who will consume the power.
Dr. Glenn Stein of Norwich, a NYRI opponent who criticizes the plan at Stop NYRI Inc.'s website, said Friday that the administration's decision is ``disappointing but not surprising.''
Republicans, who have traditionally favored states' rights, have an administration that is stripping them away, he said.
Sue Evans of Norwich, whose family's farm would have the 115-foot-high towers running through it if NYRI is built, said it's difficult for citizens to get information about the health effects of power lines.
``I'm mostly worried about what it would do to my children's health,'' she said.
Otsego County Rep. James Powers, R-Butternuts, said the federal decision is another indication of how state and federal governments are divorced from the will of the people.
``When I ran for the state Assembly last year and saw the power of big money,'' he said, ``it made me wonder if people have any control over their government at all.''