WASHINGTON – Another bill aimed at weakening Washington’s influence in the fate of New York Regional Interconnect’s power line was introduced Tuesday in the Senate by Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, according to a joint press release from the two New York Democrats.
Schumer and Clinton’s anti-NYRI legislation, the first of its kind to be born in the Senate, would up-end several provisions in the 2005 Energy Policy Act that give the U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unprecedented authority to override a state’s existing power line review process.
Norwich resident Betsy Mahannah says she’s appreciative of the anti-NYRI support in Washington and Albany, but says it’s a fundamental flaw in the democratic process these bills even have to exist.
“What do they (legislation) buy us, a year, two years? I want to buy a lifetime as a citizen in a democracy,” said Mahannah, who would lose her home if the power line were built. “There is still no input on the NYRI issue from the people who pay the taxes and who own the property. It should be the people who have a say. Where’s my democratic right to say ‘I don’t want a power line to run over my property?’ NYRI, a foreign-owned company, coming into the U.S. and using U.S. government powers of eminent domain to evict me, a U.S. citizen, from my home doesn’t feel right.”
Village of Sherburne Mayor William Acee is also skeptical of the legislation.
“All this legislation seems like smoke and mirrors to me. It just further politicizes an already politicized process,” Acee said. “This power line is bad for our village and until the powerlines are prohibited from passing overhead in our village, I will remain sceptical - period.”
If passed into law, Schumer says the bill will curb federal involvement in the issue. NYRI could still be approved on the state level.
“It’s crystal clear that the current legal arrangement is inherently flawed, leaving the state on the sidelines when it comes to determining where NYRI’s proposed route will run and how it will affect local communities,” stated Schumer in the press release. “This legislation is designed to scale back federal laws that supersede New York State’s right to influence proposed line routes in its own backyard, and it strips private companies of their right to build power lines along any path and through any community and pristine park, wherever they want and however they want.”
NYRI, a Canadian-backed company, is proposing to build a high voltage, direct current power line with 115 foot steel towers from Utica to Orange County that would deliver upstate electricity to energy-constrained areas in Metropolitan New York. If approved, the line could use eminent domain to condemn homes and businesses along its 190-mile-long route that cuts through 44 miles of Chenango County. Currently, NYRI is unable to use state eminent domain, according to a recently passed state law the energy developer is challenging in state Supreme Court.
NYRI officials were unavailable for comment Wednesday morning.
“This bill will ensure that NYRI cannot make an end run around the state’s rigorous review and siting process,” Clinton stated. “The project has the potential to impact so many New York communities along the proposed route, and their serious concerns should not be ignored or overridden.”
Schumer had announced plans in July to introduce similar legislation on his own in the fall. His office was not available by press time to explain why a new bill was introduced earlier with Senator Clinton.
NYRI has filed for a permit with the New York State Public Service Commission, the state’s power line authority. However, several of the required studies in that application were deemed “deficient” over a year ago and have yet to be corrected. Those corrections are expected in September.
Schumer, Clinton and other state and federal officials, along with citizens living on or near NYRI’s route, fear the state process may be supplanted so the project can be fast-tracked. That’s because the Department of Energy, guided by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, is currently deciding whether or not to officially designate New York and NYRI’s route as part of a “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor,” in which case FERC could step-in an take over a review process, even if a project has already been denied.
Previous pieces of anti-NYRI legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives have been defeated.
Under questioning by New York state Senators, NYRI officials admitted they did not know if the project for private or public good, and that they were unsure of who they were being paid by.
Schumer and Clinton’s bill seeks to:
• Eliminate FERC’s authority to grant right-of-way to permit holders, as created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
• State that only in a situation where the proper state entity has unreasonably delayed in acting on a permit for more than two years, may FERC issue a permit.
• Reverse FERC rule-making and clarifies that a state denial of a permit is not equivalent to state inaction.
• Clarifies that if the proper state entity denies an application for an interstate transmission line within two years, that decision may not be appealed to FERC.
There are currently two draft “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors.” Although they are not yet official, power line projects within the two corridors – one runs from California to Arizona, the other from Virginia to northern New York state – could fall under federal jurisdiction rather than be subject to state authority. NYRI’s entire 190-mile power line route is covered by the “Mid-Atlantic” corridor.