NEW HARTFORD – “It’s a hot night to deal with a hot issue,” said Senator James Seward (R- Milford), in his opening statement during Monday night’s legislative hearing regarding New York Regional Interconnect Inc., at New Hartford High School.
However, aside from a few rounds of rousing laughter and regular bursts of applause from the crowd of roughly 250 people, the atmosphere in the air-conditioned auditorium remained fairly cool.
Senators Seward, Raymond Meier (R-Western), James Wright (R-Watertown), and David Valesky (D-Oneida), along with invited local speakers, mainly focused on the necessity of examining both energy project and policy alternatives.
“We have to ask why downstate can’t solve its own energy problems,” said Senator Meier. “If they’re taking cheap upstate energy to an expensive market, there is no incentive for them to build generation capabilities.”
Seward asked representatives of the New York State Public Service Commission who were on-hand if neglecting to include environmental, energy conservation, and new generation alternatives in an Article VII application was a “fatal flaw.”
“It could be,” said PSC representative Paul Agresta. “You’re leaving yourself open for a denial if you leave out that information.”
When Seward asked NYRI representatives if the company had supplied any such alternatives, Attorney Leonard Singer replied, “They have not.”
The panel heard testimony from four local representatives who shed some new light on the possible outcomes specific to communities and businesses along NYRI’s power line.
Brian O’Shaugnessy, CEO of Revere Copper Products in Rome, said this project would deal a fatal blow to his thriving, high-electric-use business that is already hampered by what he said is an upstate energy constraint. “This would throw me out of business,” O’Shaugnessy said. “We could not survive in this location.” According to him, significant voltage drops occur at his business on peak days such as yesterday, and that the New York Independent System Operator, in charge of managing the grid, frequently asks him to shut down his operation so they can secure energy for other populations.
“Here is a perfect example of what goes on behind the scenes in our region,” said Meier in response to O’Shaugnessy’s testimony. “So much for the surplus.”
NYRI, which is planning to run a 1,200 megawatt transmission line from Oneida to Orange County to relieve downstate energy constraints, contends that the same NYISO that calls on Revere Copper because there may be a shortage also reports that upstate has excess energy.
“What I don’t understand is the economics,” Seward said. “If we have a surplus that is not being used, why is this project going to cost these people (upstate) $166 million per year for electricity they don’t use?” NYRI project manager William May responded that the reverse price hike is a “phenomenon” that occurs when constraints are relieved. May added that in the peak winter months, electricity could be sent back up the line to benefit upstate energy rates.
NYRI also admitted that they have no customers currently signed up to use their facility, and that rather than fair market utility rates, they would be asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to give them insured rates to make sure their costs for the project are reimbursed, if approved.
Les Roberts, an epidemiologist and professor at Johns Hopkins who lives in Chenango County, testified that electro-magnetic fields produced by NYRI’s direct current line would be 10 to 40 times the safe amount, based on both American and European scientific studies. “The remark by NYRI that this line will not cause any adverse health effects is delusional at best,” Roberts said, citing reports that he contends show a higher risk for leukemia in children who live near these power lines. Analyzing NYRI’s use of the railroad right of ways, Roberts proclaimed, “It appears this line was designed to maximize human exposure, not to minimize it.”
Singer again said that NYRI’s medical expert concluded that there would be “no adverse health effects.”
Terry Dote, president of the Upstate New York Citizens Alliance and board member for the Village of Clayville, claimed that smaller villages would be altered beyond repair. “The installation of this power line and the resulting deficit could bankrupt this village,” Dote said, explaining that 31 percent of Clayville’s revenue comes from property tax, and that a decease in property value thus decreasing taxes could subtract funding for necessary school budgets and public services.
Dote specifically presented an analysis of NYRI’s road-crossing photos submitted with their Article VII application to the PSC, saying that they try to show the areas as uninhabited. “We have come to find countless items that are vague, misleading, and incomplete.”
NYRI officials said the pictures were taken for their viewshed analysis by an “expert” scientific firm, and that two pictures of the same area “don’t look to be the same spot.”
“I’m no student of art,” Meier said. “But it looks like you’ve got an impressionist and not a photographer.”
Residents left buzzing about the night’s discourse, happy with the effort of the local speakers and area Senators.
“They did a fantastic job,” said New Hartford resident Eileen Spellman after the hearing. “The senators were outstanding. I just hope this project doesn’t go through.”