Little agreement on NYRI ground rules
CHENANGO COUNTY – Four stipulations pertaining to certain evidence required of New York Regional Interconnect in its expected power line case were scarcely accepted Wednesday, following over a month of meetings between pro, neutral, and anti-NYRI players to establish the ground rules.
So far, of the roughly dozen official parties that were involved – including the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Transportation – only NYRI and the state Public Service Commission staff signed-off on all four documents. The required studies and their stipulations are in regards to routing alternatives, threats to endangered species, visual impacts, and the power line’s effect on the Millennium natural gas pipeline downstate.
A lawyer for Communities Against Regional Interconnect, who participated in the hearings, said he was “disappointed” with the final stipulations and didn’t sign.
“The agreement doesn’t adequately define what will be studied or how it will be studied,” said CARI attorney John Kluscik, a lawyer with the Syracuse-based law firm Gilberti, Stinziano, and Heintz. “I’m disappointed that the Public Service Commission would enter into an agreement that principally defines a process, rather than defining the inquiry and analysis that will have to be undertaken.”
NYRI opponent David S. Smith, an attorney at Smith Campbell LLP in Manhattan, agreed.
“Three of the four stipulations relate directly to environmental issues, but the New York Department of Environmental Conservation didn’t sign on to any of them,” said Smith, also of the 1,000-member stopnyri.com group based in Sullivan County. “That speaks volumes about how these studies can’t be counted on to adequately address environmental concerns.”
The DEC was contacted late Thursday afternoon and did not return comment by press time.
The 32 pages of stipulation agreements came as a result of several Public Service Commission mediation hearings that occurred in Albany between January and February. The gatherings aimed to define the power line developer’s responsibilities in completing additional or inadequate studies related to its Article VII transmission line review application. Besides NYRI and the PSC, the Millennium Pipeline Company agreed to one stipulation that is related to its project. Parties that did sign an agreement can not require NYRI to provide more or different information than what is set forth in its guidelines.
City of Utica and Village of Sherburne attorney Dan Duthie, who also participated in the mediation, said by not signing, some parties will have more flexibility in asking questions of NYRI.
“All the active parties that did not sign are not bound by the scope of those agreements,” Duthie said. “In the litigation stages they’ll have all their options open.”
After being asked if the agreements accomplished the purpose of the mediation hearings, PSC spokesman James Denn said they at least did in part.
“... it would appear that at least some goals of various participants were met,” Denn wrote in an e-mail sent to The Evening Sun, “or it would not have been signed.”
According to a press release from NYRI, “under the four mutually agreed-upon stipulations,” the company is “committed” to:
• Study alternate routes, including the New York Thruway right-of-way and paralleling the Marcy South right-of-way.
• Provide a supplemental visual impact assessment of the transmission line.
• Provide additional information regarding any threatened and endangered species in the vicinity of the route.
• Study the cumulative impacts of the NYRI line and the Millennium Pipeline project.
“Our commitment to these studies also proves that we listened to the comments of our elected officials regarding studying the feasibility of other routes, such as using the New York Thruway or going along side the existing Marcy South route,” said NYRI project manager Bill May in a press release Thursday.
In actuality, the company was ordered by the PSC to provide that study and the other additional information in a Nov. 10, 2006 PSC ruling. Besides the four studies listed here, NYRI also has to produce several other pieces of information to complete its Article VII, including proof its project increases reliability in the electricity grid.
NYRI is proposing to build a 400,000 volt transmission line from Oneida to Orange County to transport affordable energy downstate.
So far, of the roughly dozen official parties that were involved – including the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Transportation – only NYRI and the state Public Service Commission staff signed-off on all four documents. The required studies and their stipulations are in regards to routing alternatives, threats to endangered species, visual impacts, and the power line’s effect on the Millennium natural gas pipeline downstate.
A lawyer for Communities Against Regional Interconnect, who participated in the hearings, said he was “disappointed” with the final stipulations and didn’t sign.
“The agreement doesn’t adequately define what will be studied or how it will be studied,” said CARI attorney John Kluscik, a lawyer with the Syracuse-based law firm Gilberti, Stinziano, and Heintz. “I’m disappointed that the Public Service Commission would enter into an agreement that principally defines a process, rather than defining the inquiry and analysis that will have to be undertaken.”
NYRI opponent David S. Smith, an attorney at Smith Campbell LLP in Manhattan, agreed.
“Three of the four stipulations relate directly to environmental issues, but the New York Department of Environmental Conservation didn’t sign on to any of them,” said Smith, also of the 1,000-member stopnyri.com group based in Sullivan County. “That speaks volumes about how these studies can’t be counted on to adequately address environmental concerns.”
The DEC was contacted late Thursday afternoon and did not return comment by press time.
The 32 pages of stipulation agreements came as a result of several Public Service Commission mediation hearings that occurred in Albany between January and February. The gatherings aimed to define the power line developer’s responsibilities in completing additional or inadequate studies related to its Article VII transmission line review application. Besides NYRI and the PSC, the Millennium Pipeline Company agreed to one stipulation that is related to its project. Parties that did sign an agreement can not require NYRI to provide more or different information than what is set forth in its guidelines.
City of Utica and Village of Sherburne attorney Dan Duthie, who also participated in the mediation, said by not signing, some parties will have more flexibility in asking questions of NYRI.
“All the active parties that did not sign are not bound by the scope of those agreements,” Duthie said. “In the litigation stages they’ll have all their options open.”
After being asked if the agreements accomplished the purpose of the mediation hearings, PSC spokesman James Denn said they at least did in part.
“... it would appear that at least some goals of various participants were met,” Denn wrote in an e-mail sent to The Evening Sun, “or it would not have been signed.”
According to a press release from NYRI, “under the four mutually agreed-upon stipulations,” the company is “committed” to:
• Study alternate routes, including the New York Thruway right-of-way and paralleling the Marcy South right-of-way.
• Provide a supplemental visual impact assessment of the transmission line.
• Provide additional information regarding any threatened and endangered species in the vicinity of the route.
• Study the cumulative impacts of the NYRI line and the Millennium Pipeline project.
“Our commitment to these studies also proves that we listened to the comments of our elected officials regarding studying the feasibility of other routes, such as using the New York Thruway or going along side the existing Marcy South route,” said NYRI project manager Bill May in a press release Thursday.
In actuality, the company was ordered by the PSC to provide that study and the other additional information in a Nov. 10, 2006 PSC ruling. Besides the four studies listed here, NYRI also has to produce several other pieces of information to complete its Article VII, including proof its project increases reliability in the electricity grid.
NYRI is proposing to build a 400,000 volt transmission line from Oneida to Orange County to transport affordable energy downstate.
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