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In Albany, NYRI unleashes its very own power elite - lobbyists with juice |
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Its battle to build a $1.6 billion power line across the state has just begun, but New York Regional Interconnect has already spent $292,501 trying to win influence in the halls of power. Since announcing the 1,200-megawatt mega-project last spring, NYRI has called out some of the biggest big guns in Albany's and Washington's high-powered lobbying worlds. In all, the company has 16 lobbyists from four firms working on its behalf. |
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NYRI hire seeks information on local towns |
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A consulting firm working for New York Regional Interconnect Inc. made calls in the last two weeks to at least two local townships requesting information on zoning and building laws. The reason for the requests is unknown at this time. According to Town of Guilford clerk Barbara Strier, a representative from the ESS Group, a Rhode Island-based environmental consulting and engineering firm enlisted by the $1.6 million power line developer, called her office sometime during the week of April 30 asking for a host of documents. |
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Massive power line could cross region |
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A map prepared as part of the PJM presentation shows the 500-kilovolt line traveling northeast from the Susquehanna plant in Salem Township, Luzerne County. It would travel northeast, mostly parallel to Interstate 81, past Wilkes-Barre and Scranton to Clarks Summit. From there, it would run due east toward Port Jervis, N.Y., before slicing southeast through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area into northern New Jersey. The line would end at a substation at Roseland, near Livingston, N.J. |
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People fight the power (line) |
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That's the question for opponents of the massive power line that could slice local farms, fields, forests, towns and rivers. In an unprecedented show of grass-roots democracy last year, thousands of mid-Hudson residents united to fight the 12-story-tall power line that could cut through Sullivan, Orange and Pike counties. Nearly 1,000 thousand men, women and children jammed the western Orange Village of Otisville to protest the New York Regional Interconnect lines that could destroy the village's Main Street. |
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Senator seeks electricity hearinroutegs along NYRI route |
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Sen. Charles Schumer urged federal officials Thursday to change their plans for public hearings on a proposed electricity "transmission corridor" in New York State. Schumer, D-N.Y., said the hearing sites of Rochester and New York City are simply too far from the central New York region where the corridor decision could pave the way for construction of a new power line called New York Regional Interconnect. The Department of Energy on Wednesday announced the Rochester meeting, though no date has been set. |
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DOE Announces Additional Public Comment Meetings for Draft National Corridor Designations |
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that it will hold four additional public meetings for the two draft National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (National Corridors) during the 60-day public comment period, which will close on July 6, 2007. The four additional meetings will be held in June in: Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Rochester, New York. Dates and locations will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days.
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Cheap power to Northeast US: a mixed blessing |
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A major move to boost grid capacity is under way to bring more cheap coal-fired electricity to the high-cost Northeast. New transmission lines could lower utility bills for millions of consumers and avert blackouts that sometimes hobble the region. At least eight lines, stretching some 2,000 miles through six states at an estimated cost of more than $9 billion, are under active consideration or have been formally proposed. But the plan faces rising resistance. The move would send high-voltage wires and towers up to 200-feet high through some of the most scenic areas of the mid-Atlantic states, where they could conflict with views of national parks, dedicated conservation easements, and Civil War and other historic sites, It would change the Northeast's energy mix, boosting its reliance on coal-fired energy while undercutting state efforts to move to renewable power and cut greenhouse-gas emissions, critics say.
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Public lost in transmission? |
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The U.S. Department of Energy identified the possible National Interest Electric Transmission, or NIET, corridors last month and is hosting a public meeting next week in Arlington.
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Department of Energy Allowing America's Energy to Waste Away |
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New York, NY -- The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), represented by Earthjustice, and the state of Massachusetts have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for failing to strengthen weak and outdated energy efficiency standards for commercial heating and cooling equipment. The suit challenges DOE's weak and outdated standards allowing these products to continue to waste both energy and money, and generate thousands of needless tons of air pollution, including greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
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An Unjustified Power Play on Power Line |
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When great writers imagine America's most treasured places, they don't use titles such as "A Power Line Runs Through It." Yet that is exactly what is in store for some of this country's historic and recreational treasures under the 2005 Energy Policy Act ["Dominion Could Take Case to U.S.; Law Lets Firms Bypass State on Power Line Plans," Metro, April 26].
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NSTAR Energizes Underground Transmission Line |
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Boston - NSTAR has officially flipped the switch on its massive underground transmission project, easing congestion in the regional power grid and adding much-needed capacity to the existing system. The 18-mile high-voltage transmission line is one of the largest electric infrastructure upgrades in the history of the United States utility industry. It will help ensure the region can meet steadily growing energy demand in time for the all-important summer peak.
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