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People fight the power (line)
At least eight transmission lines are planned to connect the region with Midwestern coal plants.
BTimes Herald-Record
sisrael@th-record.com
Can we beat the federal government?
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.
Another 1,000 spilled into the streets of the Delaware River hamlets of Callicoon and Lackawaxen, Pa., to blast the towers that could rise where bald eagles now soar.
Anti-NYRI signs sprouted like daffodils for 190 miles, from the line's end in New Windsor to Utica, where it would begin.
All this in a region where we're so busy commuting and working, we hardly have time for our families, let alone communities.
Just about every politician along the route jumped on the anti-power-line wagon. The state passed a law to derail the line by prohibiting eminent domain along its route. Eliot Spitzer, then a candidate, called the project "dead." The Delaware was even named one of America's Top 10 endangered rivers by the national environmental organization, American Rivers.
But on April 26, the feds delivered a punch that staggered NYRI opponents.
The U.S. Department of Energy ruled that the power line could bypass state approval. It designated the line's route — along with much of the Northeast and parts of the west — as a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. This is an area where power lines could rise to deliver needed energy, if the federal government approves them.
The designation — which around here would bring power to the New York City area — was hailed by NYRI as "a responsible step forward for ensuring a sound energy future for our country."
(It would) "set us on the path to modernize our constrained and congested electric power infrastructure," said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.
NYRI opponents reeled.
"Ooof," gasped Nina Guenste of SayNo2NYRI, the umbrella anti-power-line group for communities in Orange.
"Oh, no," said Bill Douglass, executive director of the Upper Delaware Council.
"It's so disheartening; this is supposed to be a democracy," said another NYRI opponent. "No one wants this."
What will power line opponents do next?
Can these grass-roots groups raise millions to fight the battle in Washington, when Washington provides financial incentives to build the power lines?
How, as a national election approaches, do opponents convince federal lawmakers that this upstate battle should be fought, and won, on a national level?
Here's the strategy — from two distinct parts of our region — for fighting Round 2 of what could be the decisive battle against NYRI:
Dates to remember
Saturday: Informational meeting and rally at noon with Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, and Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains, Town of Wallkill Town Hall, Tower Drive. Sponsored by SayNo2NYRI and the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition.
May 23: U.S. Energy Department hosts a public hearing on the National Interest Electric Corridors proposed for the Northeast and Southwest at the Park New York Central Hotel, Seventh Avenue and 56th Street in New York City. To speak at the all-day event, you must register online at nietc.anl.gov by May 18. The department will accept written comments, which may also be submitted online, until July 6. Mail comments to: The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, OE-20, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20585.
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