NORWICH – If approved to build its $2.2 billion power line, New York Regional Interconnect announced Tuesday it will set aside at least 10 construction-related contracts for businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.
NYRI struck the agreement with The National Disabled Veterans Business Council (NDVBC), a self-proclaimed advocacy group chartered 18-months ago in Washington, D.C.
“We at NYRI feel privileged to join with our country’s veterans through the National Disabled Veterans Business Council, so we can give something concrete back to our troops who have served all of us so selflessly,” said NYRI president Chris Thompson.
Some power line opponents, however, question NYRI’s motives for aligning with the disabled veterans group, calling it a public relations ploy aimed at deflecting attention away from the controversy surrounding its project.
“What an incredibly slimy move on NYRI’s part. They are exploiting disabled vets to help gain support of its unwanted project,” said Dave Hollis, who lives near the line’s route in Hubbardsville. “This is a totally Machiavellian move by NYRI and should be seen for what it is – a shameful attempt to portray opponents of their project as anti-disabled veterans.”
Thompson argues the power line developer only hopes to be an example of how the private sector can, and should, reach out to the nation’s veterans.
“This is just the first stepping stone,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get others to follow our lead.”
There is one registered business owned by a disabled veteran in Chenango County, according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs records. In the seven counties affected by NYRI’s route combined, there are a total of 11.
According to NDVBC Chairman Joseph A. Franklin, the organization will recruit federally-registered businesses from New York and surrounding states to bid on NYRI sub-contracts for clean-up, site security, apprenticeships, and other ancillary tasks required during the power line’s construction. Union construction workers would build the line.
Franklin estimates there are around 260-disabled veteran-owned businesses statewide, and another 1,200 non-disabled veteran-owned.
“With respect to veterans’ relations, NYRI has set the standard for businesses in New York – a standard that we would like to see other companies emulate,” said Franklin, adding that NYRI has also offered a $5,000 annual scholarship program through the organization. “We are thrilled that NYRI has demonstrated trust and faith in veterans, and together we will work toward the greater good of New York.”
Currently, the National Disabled Veterans Business Council is not recognized by Congress or the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs as a chartered or non-chartered veterans association. Franklin said the group is in the midst of filing for that recognition. It’s official Web site went up Sunday.
“We’re still in our infancy,” said Franklin during a telephone interview Tuesday, explaining that NYRI is the first company they’ve signed-on to volunteer a portion of their contracts for disabled veterans services. “That’s what makes this so exciting.”
According to its mission, the council assists “in the formation and development of organizations in every state across the nation to serve the disabled veteran business community.”
The group started in California, where it was successful in lobbying for legislation that requires that state to set aside a percentage of its contracts for disabled vets. With a connection to New York state, it’s now seeking to spread nationally, Franklin said. Aside from the pool of federally registered veterans, it doesn’t have an official membership roster.
NYRI estimates it will create 300 temporary jobs over what would be three years of construction should the line be approved. Thompson and Franklin said during the time, the available jobs would not just be limited to soldiers injured in combat, but veterans in general coming back from the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq.
NYRI’s 200-mile, 400,000 volt power line proposal has yet to be approved, and its permit application has been turned away twice in two years by the New York state Public Service Commission for failing to provide adequate impact studies and technical information.
Company officials claim the project will alleviate grid congestion downstate, reduce energy costs and encourage renewable energy resources. They also say it will boost local revenues through property tax and a $30,000 host community fund to be spread over the towns and cities where the line would go.
Opponents up and down the line fear NYRI’s project is an unnecessary for-profit venture that would cripple property values, ruin the land’s rural character and drive out residents in what’s an already weakened economy.
Some, like Chris Rossi, are in support of disabled veterans, but not at the expense of struggling communities.
“We are love the idea of bringing work to central New York, but this is not the way to do it,” said Rossi, co-chair of the citizen’s group Stop NYRI. “Especially knowing that most of these jobs go to outside firms and do very little for the local economies. Combine this with NYRI bringing up the price of local energy and we will see central New York businesses and manufacturing suffering in an already challenging upstate economy.”