NORWICH – With elections behind them, some constituents are waiting to see if the true colors of area politicians still include a flashing red, calling for the NYRI power line project to be halted and curbed.
“I will continue to fight this as hard as I did before the election,” said state Senator Tom Libous (R-Binghamton). “My 18-year record as a state Senator has proven that when I commit to something, my commitment and my word is good.”
Libous, along with state Senator Jim Seward (R-Milford) and Assemblyman Cliff Crouch (R-Guilford) say they have a plan and will not falter in the fight against Albany-based New York Regional Interconnect Inc., and its proposed 200-mile long direct current power line which would run from Oneida to Orange County. So far, the representatives have been able to secure $1 million in funding to the fight the project, create a law that blocks NYRI’s use of eminent domain, help found the Communities Against Regional Interconnect and hold two senate hearings questioning officials from the power line company.
“There is no question we need to remain vigilant,” said Seward. “There is still a lot more that has to be done.”
All three said that garnering support from the state’s federal elected representatives, such as congressional newcomer Michael Arcuri (D-Utica), will be a key component to fight – if NYRI fixes its currently deficient Article VII application and moves the review process forward – which has been at a standstill since July.
“We will do everything we can to keep FERC from jamming it down their throats,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), during a recent visit to Chenango County. When asked what he and his colleagues on the federal level would do about similar projects that could arise in the future, Schumer responded, “The same.”
Libous, Seward, and Crouch also agreed that changes in energy policy and procedure may also have to be focal points of the upcoming legislative session.
“We need to re-establish a state energy plan and policy,” Seward said, explaining that such planning has gone by the way-side in the past few years. “We have a vacuum that a company like NYRI is trying to take advantage of.”
Since utility deregulation, private companies such as NYRI have been encouraged to invest in the state’s energy infrastructure. However, controversy over the power line’s necessity, NYRI’s corporate identity, its motives, credibility, and financial standing have caused citizens, business leaders and politicians along the route to question the current energy initiative and the laws that guide it. Concerns over the line’s possible health risks, its hand in decreasing property values, and the company’s ability to take homes and land using eminent domain have fueled to the intense opposition.
“We have all learned a lot in this process, and we’ve seen the negative impact this process can have on an area such as ours,” Seward said, referring to the fear, anger and uncertainty that will most likely carry-on with NYRI’s inactivity, along with the state Public Service Commission’s Article VII procedure that could draw out for years. “We need to tighten up the process so that we don’t continue to languish with issues like the NYRI power line. We need to have some sort of ending to this.”
Article X, the energy generation facilities siting law, has been expired since 2003, and Seward said that re-instating that law and creating energy where it is needed, instead of building enormous power lines where energy is not needed, will also have to play a role in solving the problem.
Crouch explained that eminent domain reform is a hot topic in Albany and in other state capitals, but getting the different sides to agree on one solution has been difficult thus far. In October, Governor George Pataki signed into law a bill that could specifically block NYRI’s use of the land-taking power. But it’s been argued that the legislation will not hold up due to its narrow scope which is solely aimed at the Albany power purveyor, a design that Crouch said was the only way to ensure the bill would have success.
“That very thing (eminent domain) has been talked about, but we haven’t been able to reach a consensus,” Crouch said. “It (the bill) had to be very specific. We haven’t had a unanimous opinion on how to do it.”
Libous said that slowing NYRI down has been the effect of the questionable bill, and that recent PSC rulings now requiring even more information from the company will help weaken its $1.6 billion dollar campaign.
“Right now we need to focus on this particular project,” Libous said. “We have to go after the enemy confronting us now.”
Questions over who the enemy really is have been asked throughout the entire ordeal, and NYRI representatives say that financial information and identity is public, based on a letter sent to the state Senators.
“NYRI provided that information to the NY Senate and it is now a matter of public record,” said spokesman David Kalson.
“It was a pretty lame letter,” Libous said. “It was nothing in-depth or comprehensive.”
NYRI is a subsidiary American Consumer Industries of Wilmington, Del., who is in turn a subsidiary of Colmac Energy of Toronto. Officials with NYRI have said at past senate hearings that they do not know who they work for, and that they do not know if the project is for the public good, or for profit.