NORWICH - There were an estimated 500 people at Thursday night’s Senate Energy and Telecommunication Committee hearing regarding New York Regional Interconnect Inc.’s proposed power line, and many say they left the Norwich High School gymnasium half-satisfied, a result they half-expected.

“We knew what they (<a href="http://www.evesun.com/topics/news/NYRI/">NYRI</a>) were going to say,” said Hubbardsville resident Charlotte Blanchard. “But we’re glad the senators came to get them on the record.”

NYRI is an Albany-based subsidiary of American Consumer Industries Inc., of Wilmington, Del., which in turn has a parent company in Toronto. The private group of investors is proposing to run a 400,000 volt direct current transmission line from Marcy to Rock Tavern, scarring nearly 200 miles of central and southern New York countryside with 115-foot tall steel support towers.