NORWICH – Let the games begin; Gentlemen, start your engines; Let’s get ready to rumble. It appears any battle-commencing slogan could appropriately be applied to the rapidly developing arms race between New York Regional Interconnect Inc. and the 200 miles of citizens they have infuriated with their proposed power line.
That 200 miles now has a name: Communities Against Regional Interconnect. Formed as a steering committee, the group of 13 is comprised of county officials and leaders from three citizens groups, all representing Oneida, Herkimer, Madison, Chenango, Broome, Delaware, Sullivan and Orange counties. The looming 400,000 volt direct-current transmission line, supported by 13 story towers in some areas, would infiltrate all eight counties if were to be allowed to pepper the landscape from Marcy to New Windsor.
“We’re going to get moving,” said CARA CO-chair Rocco DiVeronica, the Chairman of the Madison County Board of Supervisors. “They are going to put up 1,000 of these towers with no benefit to Upstate New York – It’s going to cost us money.” DiVeronica cited reports in NYRI’s Article VII application that state increases in upstate electricity rates could be from 3.2 percent up to 7 percent.
According to committee members, the group was formed on Tuesday in Albany and is in the process of interviewing and hiring legal council experienced in utility law. They plan to hold their next meeting sometime in the first week of July, somewhere in the southern region of Upstate.
“Nothing works better than the grassroots effort,” said committee Chair Chris Cunningham, who is the Chair of the Legislature for Sullivan County. “When everybody works together it’s much more efficient.” Cunningham hopes that aside from the fight with NYRI, the combined efforts and resources of CARI will be influential in sparking a review of the recently reformed state policies on utility de-regulation, which opened the door for groups like NYRI.