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Power line to take east route
Daily Star
May 16, 2006
 By Tom Grace

New York Regional Interconnect Inc. plans to file an application with the Public Service Commission within the next two weeks to build a 400-kilovolt power line from Marcy in Oneida County to New Windsor in Orange County.

"We’ll file with the PSC by the end of the month," company spokesman Jon Pierce said Monday.

In recent weeks, the company, which was incorporated in New York State last year, has held a number of well-attended, and at times, heated meetings. Last Thursday, more than 100 people were turned away from a meeting at Norwich High School, and NYRI has pledged to hold another meeting there that all can attend.

We’re near the end of our meeting schedule, but we are going to have another one in Norwich," said Piece. The time and place will be announced by the end of this week, he said.

When the company first announced its plans, it presented two possible routes the line might follow. One follows the railroad tracks of the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway, operated by Walter Rich of Cooperstown, from Marcy to Broome County, before it turns east toward Deposit. This route would take it through the city of Norwich.

A second possible route follows the railroad tracks to the outskirts of Norwich, then jogs east, following a right-of-way owned by the New York State Electric & Gas Corp. as it cuts across Guilford, Bainbridge and Afton on the way to Deposit and ultimately Orange County.

The company has named this more easterly route its preferred route, and Pierce said that public input helped make that decision.

"It’s fair to say that we considered what we heard from the public at the meetings," he said.

By taking the easterly route, NYRI, a group of anonymous investors headed by Canadian Richard Muddiman, will avoid following the upper Delaware River, where well-organized opposition groups have formed.

These groups have been lobbying for the power line to be buried, if it has to be built at all.

At last week’s meeting in Norwich, several people in the audience asked project manager, Bill May, why the line could not be buried in Chenango County, as well. May said the cost would be prohibitive, although some in audience disagreed with his assessment.

David Hall, president of the Chenango County Chamber of Commerce, commended the public for displaying good manners at the meeting.

"A few people were quite insistent, but I think overall, it went well," he said.

Hall said he was pleased that May answered some questions from the floor, as well as those that were written to index cards and submitted to company employees.

Hall said he opposes the proposed project because it would convey little benefit to central New York and would create an eyesore that might hurt the tourism industry. Some local businesses that had been planning to expand are now waiting to see what happens with this project before proceeding with their own plans, he said.

Hall also said he was aware of a study that predicts that electric costs in upstate New York will rise "about 5 percent" if the electricity from here is transported downstate on the NYRI line.

The company has said its goal is to deliver electricity downstate to the New York City area.