NORWICH – Norwich’s town board passed a local law Monday that would block the permitting and construction of direct current power lines for the next five years.
Local Law #1 is directed at New York Regional Interconnect Inc., an Albany-based subsidiary of Canadian energy investors looking to build a high voltage power line from Oneida to Orange County. The 190-mile-long facility would carry 400,000 volts of electricity downstate, bisecting six townships in Chenango County with 115-foot-tall steel towers.
“It’s is an extension of what we did last year,” said Supervisor Dave Law at the public hearing Monday night, referring to a one-year power line moratorium the town – along with several other municipalities – passed in spring 2006. “This (NYRI issue) is going to be a lengthy thing before it’s done. We wanted to put our feet down and make a concrete stance on this.”
It’s unclear what impact the law has, if any. Power line siting authority is held by the state’s Public Service Commission, not municipalities. However, NYRI, if approved by the PSC today, would not have the use of eminent domain to take private property, which could possibly put the matter under local jurisdiction. A new law signed by former Gov. George Pataki in October removed the Albany energy developer’s right to use the controversial land acquisition tool. That law is being challenged by NYRI in federal court.
“We are in very strong support of this (moratorium),” said Norwich resident George Wright at Monday’s meeting. “It may be a holding pattern, but it will give us time.”
Copies of the moratorium will be forwarded to Congressman Michael Arcuri and the U.S. Department of Energy, which could have the final say in NYRI’s future under the 2005 Federal Energy Policy Act.
NYRI has yet to file a completed Article VII power line review application with the PSC. The company is expected to start the roughly year-long review process in late August or early September.