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Senator seeks electricity hearings along NYRI route
At least eight transmission lines are planned to connect the region with Midwestern coal plants.
By Devlin Barrett Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.
The senator said it was "unacceptable and noxious" to ask residents who live along the 200-mile NYRI route to travel 135 miles or more to a hearing in Rochester. He said the agency should hold hearings along the proposed NYRI route.
The senator has criticized the current proposed NYRI route, but has not opposed the project outright.
The Department of Energy has proposed declaring two massive national priority electrical corridors - areas in which Washington officials could approve new transmission lines over the objections of local and state authorities.
A 2005 law passed by Congress gave the federal government greater say on where high-priority transmission lines should be built. If states and regional groups fail to build the lines, the government could order them built.
The agency wants to declare a corridor on the East Coast, a large swath of land that includes parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and all of New Jersey, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
On the West Coast, a separate corridor has been proposed in southern California, Arizona, and Nevada.
Concerns about congestion in the electrical grid were heightened after a major blackout in 2003 that swept from Ohio to Canada and New York City.
The corridor designations could help private industry obtain permits from state regulators or to work in conjunction with regional groups to build new lines. Utilities have long accused state authorities of being reluctant to approve new lines, often because of local opposition.
Once a 60-day comment period on the corridors ends, the law calls for state regulators to try to strike agreements on where new lines should be built.
If state authorities do not approve any construction after a year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the authority to intervene and approve a grid project if the new line is deemed necessary to satisfy national power needs.
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