NORWICH – Senator Charles Schumer kept the mood light Thursday during his visit to Norwich, despite addressing some of the heavy issues facing Chenango County and the nation.
Periodically slipping in jokes and anecdotal stories, Schumer (D-NY) led off the gathering denouncing New York Regional Interconnect’s plan to deliver electricity downstate by way of a high voltage power line running from Utica to Orange County.
“We do need to build more power lines,” Schumer told the crowd of around fifty gathered in the Commerce Chenango offices. “But there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. NYRI has done it the exact wrong way... They’re trying to do an end-run around the counties and around the state.”
NYRI’s line would run through two villages, six townships and 44 miles in Chenango County, the longest stretch through any of the seven counties on the 190-mile-route.
NYRI officials responded to the Senator’s comments, adding that they intend to remain engaged in the state’s review process guided by the Public Service Commission.
“NYRI has been fully engaged in the State process for the past two years and remains fully engaged in that process,” NYRI spokesman David Kalson stated in an e-mail message Thursday.
Schumer is set to introduce legislation on the Senate floor in the fall session that would limit federal authority over a state’s in deciding the fate of power line projects.
“The federal government granting a private entity the authority of eminent domain to condemn private property,” Schumer said, “that just doesn’t make much sense.”
Currently, the U.S. Department of Energy is reviewing it’s preliminary “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor” designations – geographic areas where the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can override a state’s power line review authority, even if it has denied a project. Most of New York and all of NYRI’s route rest in the draft version of the “Mid-Atlantic” corridor.
Schumer’s bill would take away FERC’s ability to overrule a state’s final decision on a power line project and to grant eminent domain to private companies like NYRI.
“This gives power back to the state,” he said, rather than undermine Washington’s goal of improving the country’s electricity infrastructure. “There’s got to be some balance.”
The Senator added that IGS, a Niskayuna-based subsidiary of General Electric, is currently developing a super conductive transmission wire that can allegedly transport electricity at eight times the capacity of current wires.
“If they’re successful, that means no new power lines – the current ones could be eight times as effective,” he said. “If we can stave NYRI off for a while, their project may become less important.”

Schumer on the Rte. 12 corridor:
The Senator says federal money to upgrade the road from Binghamton to Utica is there, state and local officials just need to put a plan in place.
“You’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do with it (Rte.12),” said Schumer, who has secured $24 million in federal funding for the project. “I’ll get more. I have more clout than I had before. But nobody has really come up with a plan. We have to decide what to do.”
Schumer said he’ll be in contact with Gov. Spitzer, noting that state funding and assistance will be important.
Based on a July meeting of the New York State Route 12 Corridor Task Force, which recently completed phase one of its analysis, enhancements to Rte. 12 could include creating limited access portions, a truck by-pass of Norwich, and interconnecters to Interstates 81 and 88. An interstate in not likely, task force officials said.

Schumer on the 2007 Farm Bill:
• Supports House version of the bill.
• Wants to expand the MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract).
• Provide more support for New York’s fruit and vegetable growers.
• Intensify research into cellulosic ethanol (made from waste corn stalks), which would lower corn demand and prices.
Retired South New Berlin dairy farmer Ken Dibbell questioned Schumer’s farm platform.
“I wish you’d get off MILC,” said Dibbell, referring the program that pays farmers a certain percentage when milk prices fall below roughly $16 per hundredweight. “We need to get the money from the market place.”
Provisions in the previously failed Northeast Dairy Compact – which would free the dairy industry from federal regulation and pricing constructs and subject farm income to the market – have been reintroduced within the National Dairy Equity Act, Schumer said. The equity act has been in debate for a few years, but Schumer expects Washington to solidify a market-based milk pricing system within the next few years.
“We’re working on it,” he said. “We’ll get it done in a year or two.”

Schumer on immigration:
“Immigration should be rational,” Schumer said, contending that over 50 percent of America’s immigrants are illegal. “Most Americans would be for immigration, and immigrants taking jobs where they’re needed, but we have to take care of the illegals first.”
Schumer says he’s pushing for the creation of non-forgible Social Security cards with I.D. pictures on them that would have to be carried by all U.S. job seekers and swiped by employers to prove a worker’s citizenship. Businesses that don’t would be fined. Schumer said the program would cost roughly $900 million per year for eight years, but guarantees it would deter 90 percent of illegal immigration.
“We have to stop companies from hiring illegals,” he said.
“I paid to become an American citizen, and am happy to be one,” said Norwich resident Bridget Hannan, a native of Ireland. “Illegal immigration has created some serious problems. Something has to be done about it.”