NORWICH – Ten grassroots power line opposition groups met over the weekend at the Chenango County Chamber of Commerce to align points of unity and form a steering committee.
More than 50 individuals from the following organizations attended: The Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition from Delaware County, Stop NYRI from Madison and Chenango counties, the Chenango County Farm Bureau, representatives of the California-based Sierra Club, Stop The Power Lines from Orange County, the National Park Service, and stop.nryi.com from the Upper Delaware Council. Several concerned citizens were also present.
According to Chamber President David Hall, the groups talked about the technical aspects of the project, New York Regional Interconnect’s key players, legal representation, media initiatives, fundraising and outreach efforts to legislators. A member of the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition was elected chairman of the steering committee.
“There were several points of unity that we were all clear on,” Hall said. He listed them as eminent domain; whether NYRI’s Article VII application was complete or not; the fact that NYRI is a foreign-owned private company; that the proposed line is not a stand alone solution to the state’s energy problem; and that there’s no clear, documented need for the project.
While all of the participants called for Governor Pataki’s immediate signature on the state legislature’s recently revised eminent domain policy, Hall said everyone was aware that only 5 percent of the power line’s proposed route travels existing rights-of-way.
“That’s a relatively small area that eminent domain would even come into play,” he said.
The Chamber’s Board of Directors Chairman Greg Sheldon said those in attendance were “pulling in the same way” and making an effort to prevent each other from “doubling and tripling their efforts.”
Terry J. Bresina, City of Norwich Second Ward Alderman and Farm Bureau member, said he was encouraged by the groups’ strong intent to “beat this thing” and “to define common denominators and run with them.” Bresina said the fight is not only to beat back the power line, but also to prevent the Chenango River Valley from becoming a corridor for energy.
“They (NYRI) don’t want to pay the rent to follow the existing corridor on the Marcy line. That’s too bad. We have to kick NYRI’s tail and protect our valley,” he said.
Hall said people are so concerned about NYRI because the stand alone transmission company “shouldn’t be considered a solution to the state’s energy needs.”
“NYRI is just one arrow in a huge quiver of energy policy - including more generation of power - that should become a statewide energy policy,” he said.
Hall became the county’s pointman shortly after NYRI announced its intentions in March. Since then, however, the opposition has evolved into two parallel tracks: the government track and the grassroots track. Both have hired legal representation.
“The Chamber got things going and helped create a lot of that initial publicity,” Hall said. “Chamber members also said they were certainly willing to provide some funding to contribute to an overall opposition strategy.”
Once the New York State Association of Counties became involved, and later hired an attorney, the county’s Planning Department took over the reins on the government track.
“I’m still very involved in both tracks, but Donna (Jones, county planning director) has taken over the government’s role,” he said. The grassroots track is represented by an attorney for the Delaware River preservation organizations.
Of late, Sheldon said the Chamber has been “in a crisis mode” with NYRI and the 2006 Flood. “We’ve taken on threats to our business community and responding to issues that are not standard or normal,” he said. Sheldon was formerly employed by Alteren Limited, a land development company that was raising capital to build a $64 million recreational resort complex in the Town of Norwich. Alteren President Stephen E. Stark said two weeks ago that the proposed power line had “devastated” his project.
Other recent Chamber activities include: a membership drive that netted 550 members and continues to attract several new members each month; the production of a new travel guide for the fall; coordinating a $64,000 matching fund grant from “I Love New York” to promote tourism-related businesses locally; aligning economic development organizations, and new retail and housing revitalization plans for downtowns throughout the county.