The Hon. Samuel
Bodman
Secretary
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20585
Dear Secretary
Bodman:
I need your attention
on a New York-specific issue and will welcome your input.
I am writing to
you today regarding the request by New York Regional Interconnect,
Inc. (NYRI) to be considered for the status of National Interest Electric
Transmission Corridor (NIETC) under Section 1221 the Energy Policy
Act of 2005.
In their March
2, 2006 letter to the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability,
NYRI, a private corporation, outlines a proposed project to construct
a 1200 MW HVDC transmission facility that is to interconnect from
the Edic substation in Marcy, NY to the Rock Tavern substation in
New Windsor, NY.
There are two
enormous problems inherent to their request: one is a matter of public
interest and the other is a bizarre story of incompetence.
By proposing to
both construct and operate 200 miles of high voltage power lines,
NYRI has sacrificed the objectivity required to make energy decisions
on behalf of the public interest. As you no doubt agree, Mr. Secretary,
we are living in an era when sound energy decisions require objectivity
and transparency. NYRI is a private company, and one that has proven
its incompetence by beginning their proposed public works project
by infuriating the public. Were it not so clearly rooted in arrogance,
their bumbling would be a point of amusement. However, there is nothing
amusing about the potentially-devastating impact their proposal could
have on Upstate New York.
At each subsequent
exchange with the public, NYRI has been glib and condescending to
property owners and local officials. They have withheld information
and sought to usher in their agenda on rhetoric and scare tactics
by relying on the yet-unwritten rule in the Energy Policy Act of 2005,
regarding national energy corridors.
When private and
public interests intersect, it is incumbent upon the private sector
to win the public trust. Not only is NYRI seemingly unconcerned with
the property owners their proposal will directly impact; but they
are attempting to skirt New York State regulators - despite the fact
that the project is encompassed entirely within New York State.
Apparently, they
view the rule as a vehicle to circumvent state authority and state
interests; whereas my explicit understanding of the Energy Policy
Act of 2005 is that any group must first go through the state regulatory
process and, if one year passes without action, then their application
may be considered at the federal level.
I would be hard
pressed to entrust a matter of tremendous public importance to a group
who has exhibited, at every phase, the utmost contempt for the public
and transparent dialogue. The Northeast is clearly in need of utility
upgrades; however, this proposal raises questions, many questions,
and the cavalier response from NYRI seem to be "trust us, we
know best." That
qualifies as one of the most absurd statements from a source that
has yet established any public trust.
I don't mean to
get preachy, but as I see it the government is of the people and not,
as NYRI's insulting action would lead one to believe, an institution
with the means and will to skirt the very people from whom we derive
power.
Thank you for
looking into the matter, Mr. Secretary. I appreciate your attention
and look forward to hearing your comments.
Sincerely,
Sherwood Boehlert
Testimony of “STOP NYRI”
Presented by Eve Ann Shwartz at the New York State Senate Energy Committee Hearing
Norwich, New York,
June 15, 2006
First I want to thank Senators Seward, Valesky, and the rest of the Senate energy committee for giving our community the opportunity to
voice our serious concerns and opposition to the proposed NYRI power
line. My name is Eve Ann Shwartz and I am here tonight to speak on
behalf the tens of hundreds of citizens in Madison and Chenango County
who have come together in the last two months to create a grass roots
organization whose name says it all: “STOP NYRI” is our name and it is our only goal!
Why are we so single minded in our name and our goal? We are single
minded in name and purpose because there is nothing about the NYRI
project that will benefit our communities. In fact, this project will
only bring negatives to our upstate communities. This project will
undermine our already fragile rural economy, raise the cost of
electricity for local businesses and residents, harm our health, and
forever alter the untouched and irreplaceable natural environment which
is the backdrop of our beautiful rural communities.
I hope that each of you took a moment out of your busy day as you drove
to this meeting to appreciate the incredible beauty of these river
valleys that surround the City of Norwich and all of the other
communities that are unfortunate enough to be in the path of the
proposed NYRI power line. . That beauty, and the peace and tranquility
of our small communities, is what motivates many of us here tonight. But
tonight’s meeting and my testimony is not just about: NOT IN MY BACK
YARD. We oppose the NYRI project because it is bad energy policy, bad
economic policy and bad planning for the future of New York State.
The NYRI project is bad energy policy.
Why should new transmission lines be built before mandatory conservation measures have been put in
effect? Why should new transmission lines be built before new generation
plants are built in the communities that are demanding and using the
additional power? Why should new transmission lines be built before
existing lines are upgraded to full capacity? The guidelines that New
York State has established to improve our energy system appear to the
public to be as poorly run as the rest of Albany’s government, with
little positive vision and too much corporate influence.
The NYRI project is bad economic policy.
NYRI’s own economic studies
show that if this project is built the cost of electricity in upstate NY
will rise, putting further negative pressure directly on upstate
manufacturing , while increasing the cost of living for the average
resident of Upstate NY . If this project is built the upstate economy
will lose more tax base, more good jobs, and we will continue to lose
our most precious resource - the next generation of workers and
entrepreneurs who are the future of our economy. In the last 5 years,
the upstate region of NYS has lost more young people between the ages of
25-35 than any other region in the United States. Candidates for state
wide office recently describe Upstate NY as another Appalachia. The NYRI
project will only increase this downward economic trend.
Locally, the community that I live in, the Town of Hamilton, is just
completing an economic development strategy to guide the future
development of our area. As part of that process we identified our
relative strengths. Not surprisingly the unsurpassed natural beauty of
our Town is one of our strongest assets. Based on this asset one of the
key strategies of the Town’s plan is to attract tourists, retirees,
second home owners and telecommuting workers to our community. 135 foot
tall electric transmission lines running through the most beautiful
valley of our Town will directly undermine this strategy.
As senators representing the entire state of New York, you must
recognize that what is bad for one part of the state will inevitably be
bad for the entire state. Any short term economic benefit to one region
of NYS will soon be offset by cost increases Upstate. Tax dollars
collected downstate will need to be recycled Upstate to pay for the
rising costs of unemployment and Medicaid, as young wage earners leave
behind the elderly and the poor. The only sector that will see
economic benefit from this project are the foreign shareholders of the
NYRI Corporation.
The NYRI project is bad planning.
The proposed route is located
primarily along the right of way of the NY Susquehanna Railroad. One
hundred years ago the development of the railroad was an outstanding
example of good planning. New York State government worked with private
entrepreneurs to support the creation of the railroad line to connect
the ports of New York with the fields and factories of Madison, Chenango
and Oneida counties. The beautiful and historic villages of Waterville,
Hubbardsville, Sherburne and Norwich flourished and grew because the
railroad allowed for the free and profitable exchange of goods and
people. The tracks were deliberately routed through these communities to
increase their economic prosperity. To use that same railroad line as a
location for high voltage power lines that will directly harm those very
same communities is both bad planning and tragically ironic. Wise,
rational planning would locate power lines away from people’s homes and
businesses, and place them next to existing transmission lines or along
existing transportation corridors such as the NYS Thruway.
The NYRI Project is based on misinformation.
The NYRI project has been
deceitful and misleading at every opportunity. To cite just two
instances, a little over a month ago, NYRI representatives stood in this
same building and told the audience that they would not use the power
of eminent domain to take private land. Three weeks later, NYRI’s filing
with the Public Service Commission refers to the eventual need for these
powers. Another more graphic example can be found in Exhibit 3 of NYRI’s
Article 7 filing. Included with my testimony is a copy of two photos of
local railroad crossings. In each case we compare the NYRI photos of the
crossings to photos taken by local citizens. In each case NYRI’s photos
somehow miss the houses and businesses that surround the railroad
crossing! Decisions based on NYRI misinformation will surely result in
bad policy.
As members of the NYS Senate Energy Committee you are uniquely
positioned to understand these issues and to take strong political and
legislative action to prevent these disastrous impacts. You have the
power and the duty to develop wise energy policy that focuses on
conservation, renewable energy, and the equitable development of New
York State’s electric grid. You have the power and the duty to support
economic projects that are good for all sectors of our state’s economy.
You have the power and the duty to insist that that the Public Service
Commission and all of the private and public power companies engaged in
this sector rationally plan for the future. Finally, and most
importantly, you have the power and the duty, along with the members of
the Public Service Commission, to insist that the NYRI project be held
to the highest level of public disclosure and scrutiny.
In this election year I call on each of you, whether you are running for
state or federal office, to pledge to your constituents that you will do
everything in your power to STOP the NYRI project. The citizens of your
communities will be watching your words and your actions. We will
support you if you support us. We will defeat NYRI and any politicians
who support the NYRI project.
The following letter was sent to Governor Pataki by Port Washington resident Kathy Yasas. It's a great example of how a personal story can convey the real emotional meaning behind the threat of NYRI.
Dear Governor Pataki:
In 1948, my parents married and bought a home on route 12B in Earlville , New York ( Chenango County ). The next year my sister was born, and six years later, in 1956, I came along.
The house I grew up in was not a mansion by any means, just a simple 4 bedroom house with living room, dining room, kitchen, and a couple of baths. There were a few acres surrounding it, with a small pond where we fished in summer and ice skated in winter. My dad had a garden, and my mother fussed with her lilac trees in the spring. My parents were factory workers, and while we were not wealthy people, life in our small part of the world was okay.
Our little house on Route 12B saw streams of family members passing through, down-on-their-luck cousins from Texas who, with their four small boys, stayed with us once for two months; aunts and uncles and elderly parents, nephews, nieces and their children, everyone in the family, it seemed, headed to our house if they were having financial trouble. In the early 1950s my dad converted the little garage into an apartment where my grandparents lived for many years, and where my grandfather died.
I'm one of those odd people who has nothing to complain about when it comes to her childhood. I had 23 first cousins, and we were all caught up in the aura of my parents' house. There was kindness there, and generosity of spirit. It's where we spent 30-plus years of holidays at my mother's table, evenings on the front porch, and summers playing badminton and croquet on the back lawn. It's where I had long conversations my dolls in the attic, it was where my prom photo was taken, and where we had my sister's wedding reception. Eventually, my sister and her husband bought the house from mom and dad and raised their two sons there.
In 1992, the State of New York informed my sister and brother-in-law that, through the eminent domain law, our family home was going to be taken in order to tear down a viaduct and build a new road. They offered $60,000 for the house and said take or leave it, but either way the house was coming down, which it did. In fact, after my family moved out, after the house sat empty waiting for the state to get its act together, and after vandals stripped it of doors, windows, woodwork, and stair railings, the local fire department used it as a practice spot. We watched our family home literally go up in flames.
Governor Pataki, my personal history may not mean much to you. And the personal lives of thousands of your constituents in upstate New York may pale in comparison to the personal lives of your New York City constituents (the many millions of them who are registered voters, I realize). I, in fact, am one of your New York City folk. I live and work on Long Island , and have done so since 1981. However, the memory of my family home being taken by the state and the realization that my family's history was utterly insignificant to New York politicians, is still quite fresh in my mind. I remember thinking at the time: "Wow, this must be what Germany felt like right around 1939."
I represent thousands of people in upstate New York when I ask you to support eminent domain reform. Please do not let NYRI - or any other private or public transportation/utility company - tell people that their homes, their lives, and their family history are less important than making an almighty buck.
I can only thank God that my parents were not alive to see 30 years of memories burned to the ground by the State of New York .
Sincerely,
Kathleen M. Yasas
President
MSP International, Inc.
405 Main Street
Port Washington, NY 11050
The following letter, sent to all media outlets by Hubbardsville resident Bill Viola, is a great example of how you might influence your elected representatives and their appointees.
On February 2, 2006, the Department of Energy (DOE) listed in the Federal Register their:
CONSIDERATIONS FOR TRANSMISSION CONGESTION STUDY AND DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL INTEREST ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION CORRIDORS (NIETC)
In their summary, the DOE seeks comments and information from the Public concerning this Study. Through this notice of inquiry, the DOE invites comments on draft criteria for gauging the suitability of geographic areas as NIETC’s and announces a Public Technical Conference concerning the criteria for evaluation of candidate areas as NIETC’s. "Written comments may be filed electronically to the DOE in MS Word and PDF formats by e-mailing to: EPACT1221@hq.doe.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. E.D.T. March 6, 2006."
The DOE sought comments and information from the public concerning a Study that was not announced to the Public by any media source and was only listed in the Federal Register. The general public does not read through the Federal Register on a daily basis, so how would the public know about the Study? As far as I am concerned, the only people who would know to look in the Federal Register would be people or companies with an agenda or “people in the know”. At the time of this writing the DOE, at the request of New York Regional Interconnect, Inc. (NYRI) is actively considering an early designation of a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) which will run from Marcy, New York to New Windsor, New York. These 400 kilovolt DC current high voltage power transmission lines will be mounted on towers 80 to 200 feet high and be spaced every 800 feet along the railroad corridor for 200 miles. The DOE’s deadline for the public’s comments has come and gone. I feel that since the public was not properly made aware of this study or its contents, the public has the right to send their comments after the March 6, 2006 deadline to the DOE to oppose this early designation request by NYRI. I also urge the public to telephone, e-mail and write to the Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Local and State Elected Officials, Congress, candidates for Congress and the Secretary of Energy to reject any designation of this corridor. The elected State officials who have been contacted about this proposal have expressed no concern or urgency. Their overall response is “NYRI has not filed Article VII with the New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) and the approval or denial process could take up to 2 years or more. It is a long way down the road”. The elected State Officials are missing the point. When the NIETC is designated and approved, their power to regulate and control how the NIETC will be used will no longer exist.
If the proposed route or any part thereof is designated by the Department of Energy (DOE) as a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Congress or the Secretary of Energy it will be too late! When federal designation is approved, all local and state laws that are in place to prevent construction within the NIETC will be overidden by the National Energy Policy Act of 2005. The public as well as all local and state elected officials must act now and contact the DOE, FERC, Congress and the Secretary of Energy to oppose the early designation request from NYRI and most importantly, any designation of the proposed route or any part thereof as a NIETC. If the DOE, FERC, Congress or the Secretary of Energy designates and approves the proposed route or any part thereof, it will forever be a NIETC. Whether or not the New York Public Service Commission certifies NYRI’s Article VII application, you can be sure of one fact: something at sometime, whether it be power transmission lines, windmills, power plants or something else, will be constructed in this NIETC by someone. This cannot be stressed enough.
Please feel free to contact me via e-mail me at k9nic1@frontiernet.net if you need more information or have any questions.
Bill Viola, Hubbardsville, New York
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS, the DOE and the NYS Public Service Commission today!
WASHINGTON - 14 Aug 2007 - U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hilary Rodham Clinton announced that they introduced legislation in the Senate to rein in the ability of the private power company New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) to opt out of the more thorough and appropriate New York State Public Service (PSC) approval process in an attempt to gain approval at the federal level for its highly controversial proposed power line route. The legislation is designed to curtail the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to unilaterally establish power line routes through New York State, while stripping FERC of its eminent domain powers and blocking it from overriding New York State's siting process. 
UPDATE: 
Letter to Governor Spitzer
See the 
