SHERBURNE – New York Regional Interconnect Inc. can add a few more items to an already hefty “to do list” in regards to proving its 200-mile long power line is a worthy project.
Following a recent ruling by the New York State Public Service Commission, NYRI will now have to supply several additional pieces of technical information (to its already-deficient Article VII approval application) that the company had previously hoped would be waived. Also, according to the PSC ruling, the Albany-based developer will have to partially answer a motion initiated by the Village of Sherburne and the City of Utica asking for more information in a number of areas, including alternatives for the project and its potential environmental impact.
“We are directing the applicant to perform a study of the Thruway and the Marcy-South alternate routes,” states PSC Secretary Jaclyn A. Brilling in reference to the joint request, “and to compare the environmental, economic, financial, electrical, and other pertinent benefits or detriments of these routes as proposed.” The Marcy-South route refers to the existing Marcy-South power line, that runs downstate from Marcy and bisects neighboring Otsego County.
Aside from asking NYRI to study routing alternatives, the commission asked that the company provide environmental impact studies not only for its project, but also the Millennium Natural Gas Pipeline project, along with studies of impacts on endangered species and scenic visibility. The Millennium project is scheduled to begin being constructed downstate in 2007, and NYRI plans to use it as a utility right of way to construct its power line.
“We urge the applicant to work with staff and the other parties to determine the scope of the economic impact information that should be brought to the record,” Brilling states.
“The PSC order will substantially slow the application process for NYRI,” said Village of Sherburne Mayor William Acee. “They will have to dig a lot deeper into environmental issues as well as look at alternates to the proposed route down the rail bed.”
David Kalson, a spokesman for NYRI, said the company’s Attorney Leonard Singer had not yet had a chance to fully look over the ruling as of Monday afternoon, and could not comment on the matter.
While the PSC agreed that several of the motion’s other assertions were credible – including the disclosure of the power line’s economic impacts, the company’s corporate structure and financial viability, and its land rights and eminent domain capabilities – the commission argued that that information should be discovered during the Article VII evidentiary hearings, and not demanded beforehand.
“It would have been nice to have some of that information upfront,” said Village of Sherburne and City of Utica Attorney Dan Duthie, regarding the other requests that were not granted. “But we are very pleased the commission acted the way they did.”
Denied in the ruling were several waiver requests NYRI filed for in August, asking that they not be responsible for sets of updated aerial photos, detailed maps, drawings and plans related to the power line’s design, its effect on vegetation, structures, topography, historical and geographical sites, along with effects on wildlife caused by explosions during any construction. The PSC did grant, in-part; requests for a smaller study area of possible effected archeological sites along right-of ways; that certain maps showing the project’s relationship to other utility facilities be allowed to be provided as supplemental information at a later date; and that an assessment of land clearance needs could also be provided at a later date in the review process.
Among the over 80 parties that responded, NYRI’s waiver requests yielded notable opposition from the DEC and the state Attorney General’s Office.
NYRI is proposing to construct a 200-mile-long power line from Marcy to New Windsor, cutting across 44 miles of Chenango County in an effort relieve energy constraints downstate.