NORWICH – Christmas Eve always meant that much more to Rick and Betsy Mahannah – exactly 30 years ago today they moved into their house in Woods Corners.
But Christmas hasn’t felt the same since March 2006 when New York Regional Interconnect Inc. announced its plan to build a power line less than 50 feet from their back porch, the Mahannahs admit.
“It’s a cloud over the holiday,” said Betsy. “You wonder where you’ll be next year. It’s a sick, sad feeling we have in our hearts.”
If the line is eventually built – it would run along the New York Susquehanna & Western railroad tracks behind the Mahannah’s house – Rick and Betsy say they’d be left without any choices.
“We couldn’t live here anymore,” she said. “Even if they didn’t force us out using eminent domain, the house would be as good as condemned. Medically it would be unsafe and the property value would be worth nothing with that power line in our backyard. We couldn’t live there and no one would buy it. It feels like we’re being pushed out the door of our own house and we may not get a blessed penny.”
Whatever happens, Betsy says she, Rick and grandson Josh don’t want to fear the unknown anymore.
“We would just like to see it resolved,” she said. “One way or the other.”
It doesn’t look like it will be resolved anytime soon. Well into its second year, NYRI’s bid to run a 400,000 volt transmission line from Utica to Orange County is essentially no closer to being approved or denied than it was the day it started. That’s because the company has yet to complete its official permit application as ordered in July 2006 by the state’s power line authority, the Public Service Commission (PSC).
NYRI is blaming the delay with the PSC on a year-and-a-half-old law that’s meant specifically to block its use of eminent domain to take private property. It was signed in October 2006 by former Gov. George Pataki as an amendment to state utility law. NYRI is currently petitioning the PSC to decide if in fact the law is applicable to its project, because without knowing how it impacts the power line, company President Chris Thompson said he doesn’t want to spend the $10 million he claims is needed to complete the application, known as the “Article VII.” Thompson said the company may even abandon the line altogether.
“It is not technically or economically feasible to complete the project without the right to obtain property rights through eminent domain,” said Thompson in a recent court affidavit, claiming the company has spent $11 million planning and developing the line.
Stop NYRI, a power line opposition group representing Madison and Chenango counties, plans to make eminent domain the focus of its campaign in the coming year, says co-chair Chris Rossi, a Hubbardsville resident.
“Eminent domain has become a national issue,” Rossi said, pointing to recent hot-button cases where private companies and government entities have condemned people’s homes for questionable purposes, like building strip malls. “NYRI is just one symptom of the real problem.”
Rossi hopes eminent domain becomes a topic of the 2008 presidential debates, especially considering candidate Rudolph Giuliani’s law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, has represented NYRI in Washington, D.C.
Locally, Stop NYRI is continuing to map out the significant historical sites in the Chenango River Valley that would be altered by the line. The group has hired a consultant to compile the record so the corridor can be eligible for protection under state and federal law.
“We want to show NYRI that this valley is not just a commodity that can be manipulated and destroyed,” Rossi said.
If NYRI can’t use eminent domain at the state level, a company spokesman said it may seek help from the federal government now that most of New York state is part of a seven state “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor.” Inside the corridor, the feds can grant eminent domain to power line developers if their projects are denied or unfairly reviewed by state authorities.
“You know that’s where it’s going next,” said Mahannah. “The federal level.”