CHENANGO COUNTY – Opponents of New York Regional Interconnect’s $1.6 power line proposal say they can beat the Canadian energy developer if the fight stays in-state and out of Washington’s hands.
“If companies like NYRI were forced to play by the (New York State) Public Service Commission’s ‘rules,’” says Earlville resident and STOP NYRI co-chair Eve Ann Shwartz, “their applications would be properly denied because their proposals create unacceptable human, environmental and economic costs while still failing to solve the fundamental problems of system reliability and lower power costs for all New Yorkers.”
Last July, the PSC – the state’s long-standing power line authority – turned away NYRI’s permit application, citing the company’s failure to meet at least 10 different technical and visual requirements. Shwartz and others contend NYRI’s project is questionable and unnecessary, and only answering the call of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which seeks to fast-track investment in the nation’s electricity grid.
“I understand we need to improve the grid,” said Bill Acee, mayor of Sherburne, whose village would be bisected by the power line. “The is not the proper answer.”
Monday, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced he’s crafting legislation that would repeal certain provisions in that energy law, curbing the federal government’s new-found power to supplant state power line review authority and NYRI’s use of federal eminent domain to take private property.
“Giving unfettered power to private firms to establish power lines along any path and through any community, wherever they want and however they want, is bad public policy,” Schumer said Monday in a written statement. “My legislation is designed to restore the rights of state’s, such as New York, to maintain their more thorough siting process, without fear that FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) will swoop in and approve poorly designed projects.”
Guided by the energy act, the U.S. Department of Energy in the coming months may permanently designate 70 percent of New York and all of NYRI’s route as part of a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. Within a corridor, FERC can supplant state authority if a power line proposal isn’t reviewed within one year of filing its completed application or if the project is approved with unfair stipulations. However, the commission can also step in if a project is denied. If approved by FERC, NYRI could take property using federal eminent domain.
“I believe eminent domain should be used for public purposes – not private enterprise,” said Acee. “I would hope Schumer’s proposed bill would become law.”
Here’s what Schumer’s bill would do:
• Reverse FERC’s rule making and clarify that a state denial of a permit is not equivalent to state inaction.
• Eliminate FERC’s authority to grant eminent domain, as created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
• Ensure that if the proper state entity denies an application for an interstate transmission line, that decision may be appealed only if the applicant can prove to FERC that the decision lacked merit. If the state regulatory authority does not make a final decision within a year of a request being filed for permits to build a new transmission line, the FERC may obtain jurisdiction only if it is determined that there is no rational basis for the delay.
“Senator Schumer’s legislation’s an important and necessary step to rein in federal power over the siting of transmission lines, a subject that has historically been reserved to the states,” said Shwartz. “We fully support the Senator’s efforts to remove eminent domain from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and call on Senator Clinton and the rest of the NY Congressional delegation to work vigorously for the passage of this bill that would protect the private property rights of all Americans and restore decision making power to the states.” 
Two historically congested regions in the Southwest and Mid-Atlantic – which cover parts of Arizona, California, and Nevada in the west, and 7 states, including New York, in the East – were already given draft corridor status in May. The DOE is reviewing those designations.
NYRI is proposing to build a high voltage transmission line from Oneida to Orange County – splitting 44 miles of Chenango – to relieve energy constraints in Metropolitan New York. Among the deficiencies listed by the PSC in NYRI’s review application was proof its 190-mile-long transmission line would increase energy reliability downstate.