_ritter_
Gadfly
In today's Middletown (NY) Times Herald Record:
TR
Narrowsburg, NY
www.delawareriverfishing.com
www.ilovethecatskills.com
===============================
http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/04/24/news-bspower-04-24.html
High-voltage utility line sparks debate amid locals
200 miles of wires would run through Sullivan and Orange
By Brendan Scott
Times Herald-Record
bscott@th-record.com
Like a column of steel soldiers marching down the scenic Delaware Valley, the pylons for the 1,200-megawatt electric transmission line would rise.
They would start in the state's power-rich north, near Utica, and march into the federally protected recreational playland that is the Upper Delaware. At Port Jervis, the column would swing east and traverse much of Orange County before halting at a New Windsor substation to feed the hungry New York City energy market.
With this meandering 200-mile trek, developers say the New York Regional Interconnection would stabilize the region's shaky power grid, cut local energy costs and avert a future of rolling blackouts.
But the $1 billion project would forever alter some of the Empire State's most pristine landscapes. Building it would likely require buying out land owners, taking property by eminent domain and crowding backyards from Callicoon to Campbell Hall. The pylons would be 85 to 135 feet tall.
"We don't have a big economic base here," said Orange County Legislator Wayne Decker, D-Cuddebackville, whose own backyard is among those that could be affected. "We have a couple of beautiful rivers and some scenic lands that we try to make the most of. This is a big threat to all of that."
Early misfire
The interconnection project first sent shock waves down the Delaware in the fall of 2003, when developers proposed using rights-of-way of the Norfolk Southern railroad to accommodate a novel "high-voltage direct current" utility line.
Then, it was called Pegasus and pitched as the brainchild of Richard A. Muddiman, a self-described high-achiever from Ontario, Canada. Pegasus, however, encountered fast resistance from a coalition of property-rights advocates and environmentalists seeking to protect the Upper Delaware.
"To see these power lines right next to you as you paddle down the river, you might think twice about coming back," said Bill Douglass, who leads the Upper Delaware Council.
The federal government charges the council to enforce the Upper Delaware's river management plan, which opposes power lines on the scale of the Interconnection project.
Forums were held. News releases were issued. Muddiman eventually agreed to shoulder an estimated $200 million in costs to bury the power lines through the most sensitive areas along their path.
But then, as fast as it had arrived, Pegasus vanished.
Now it's back, with a new name, new investors, a simpler strategy and a high-powered team of consultants and lawyers to help negotiate the treacherous regulatory waters of Albany and Washington.
Surging back
The new and improved New York Regional Interconnect made its debut March 30 with a conference call to regional media and a slick Web site, featuring sounds of birds chirping and photos of windmills and a girl with sunlit blonde hair.
While Muddiman is the president of the new company, he has stepped noticeably out of public view. His Port Edward, Ontario, address has been replaced by an office in Albany.
The project's principal backer is now American Consumer Industries, a Delaware holding company led by Robert S. McLeese of Toronto, Canada.
Developers say they hope to start building in 2008 and plan to send enough electricity to power more than a million downstate homes by 2011.
The new proposal includes two potential routes:
One follows Pegasus' planned path along the railroad tracks, down the Delaware and across northern Orange County. The other parallels the planned Millennium natural gas pipeline through western Sullivan County and into Cuddebackville, where it rejoins the railroad.
Developers say they scouted the second path after realizing the Delaware route would face more opposition and might require expensive changes to their plan.
"We spent a lot of time looking at a lot of routes," said Bill May, the project manager. "We've determined this one is the best."
Either route would start at National Grid's Edic substation in Marcy and end at Central Hudson Electric & Gas Co.'s substation in the New Windsor hamlet of Rock Tavern.
Power grab?
Opponents have several reasons to take the project more seriously as the new company prepares to file its application with the state's Public Service Commission.
Regional Interconnect has hired Couch White, one of Albany's leading and best-connected lobbying law firms. In Washington, they're represented by Bracewell & Giuliani.
Not only does the law firm bear the name of "America's mayor," it also boasts several former top officials from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on its payroll.
That's significant because Regional Interconnect is asking the federal government to declare its proposed route an "electric transmission corridor of national interest."
If granted that distinction, which was first created in last year's Energy Policy Act, FERC could give Regional Interconnect the power to take private land by eminent domain.
Developers say they would rather pay landowners fair market value for land they need.
"That should eliminate any need to use eminent domain," May said. "It is not - 'not' with a capital 'N' - our intention to go that way."
Still, the possibility of takings will surely open an old wound cut in the mid-1980s, when the New York Power Authority brought Marcy-South to town. Many blamed that high-voltage power line for trashing property values along a similar route.
"We're talking about another one of those," Decker said. "It's a real blight."
So, when Regional Interconnect's promoters make the rounds to sell the project in a series of public hearings this week, they'll likely encounter some skepticism, if not hostility.
Farther up the Delaware, municipal and county officials are already working to stall the plan. U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, said he'll fight any effort to put above-ground power lines along a scenic river.
"We realize you have to have transmission lines," Hinchey said. "Do you do it in a way that's beneficial to the community? Or do you do it in a way that's injurious? If it's the latter, then we will have to oppose it."
Why DC over AC?Long before VHS and Betamax, the battle between alternating current and direct current raged. With DC, the electrical charge moves in a single direction. With AC, the charge oscillates in a steady flow.Because an alternating current proved to be more convenient for transmitting electrical current, most transmission has been done using AC. Over long distances, however, such as the 200-mile span proposed by the New York Regional Interconnect, too much power can dissipate from AC lines to make them economical.Increasingly, engineers, especially abroad, are turning to DC as a solution. For a similar reason, DC has long been used to transmit power along underwater cables.The Regional Interconnection project would carry 1,200 megawatts, or 400 kilovolts. That would make it slightly more powerful than the Marcy-South power lines installed in the mid-1980s, which carry 345 kilovolts of electricity.Direct current brings some other advantages. Since it only requires two cables, the pylons could be narrower in width. Also, the cables produce less noise and, since the earth generates direct current, they're thought to have less potential health effects. Scientists in the public and private sectors have found no firm link between electric transmission lines - AC or DC - and health problems.Brendan Scott
Want to know more?
New York Regional Interconnect has scheduled a series of community forums along the 200-mile route of the proposed 1,200-megawatt electric transmission line.
Local dates are as follows:
- 7 p.m. Thursday at New Windsor Town Hall on Union Avenue in New Windsor.
- 7 p.m. May 4 at the Mount Hope Senior Center on Baker Street in Otisville.
- Residents can also call 877-FYI-NYRI (877-394-6974), e-mail info@nyri.us or log onto
www.nyri.us.
==============
[end article]
TR
Narrowsburg, NY
www.delawareriverfishing.com
www.ilovethecatskills.com
===============================
http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/04/24/news-bspower-04-24.html
High-voltage utility line sparks debate amid locals
200 miles of wires would run through Sullivan and Orange
By Brendan Scott
Times Herald-Record
bscott@th-record.com
Like a column of steel soldiers marching down the scenic Delaware Valley, the pylons for the 1,200-megawatt electric transmission line would rise.
They would start in the state's power-rich north, near Utica, and march into the federally protected recreational playland that is the Upper Delaware. At Port Jervis, the column would swing east and traverse much of Orange County before halting at a New Windsor substation to feed the hungry New York City energy market.
With this meandering 200-mile trek, developers say the New York Regional Interconnection would stabilize the region's shaky power grid, cut local energy costs and avert a future of rolling blackouts.
But the $1 billion project would forever alter some of the Empire State's most pristine landscapes. Building it would likely require buying out land owners, taking property by eminent domain and crowding backyards from Callicoon to Campbell Hall. The pylons would be 85 to 135 feet tall.
"We don't have a big economic base here," said Orange County Legislator Wayne Decker, D-Cuddebackville, whose own backyard is among those that could be affected. "We have a couple of beautiful rivers and some scenic lands that we try to make the most of. This is a big threat to all of that."
Early misfire
The interconnection project first sent shock waves down the Delaware in the fall of 2003, when developers proposed using rights-of-way of the Norfolk Southern railroad to accommodate a novel "high-voltage direct current" utility line.
Then, it was called Pegasus and pitched as the brainchild of Richard A. Muddiman, a self-described high-achiever from Ontario, Canada. Pegasus, however, encountered fast resistance from a coalition of property-rights advocates and environmentalists seeking to protect the Upper Delaware.
"To see these power lines right next to you as you paddle down the river, you might think twice about coming back," said Bill Douglass, who leads the Upper Delaware Council.
The federal government charges the council to enforce the Upper Delaware's river management plan, which opposes power lines on the scale of the Interconnection project.
Forums were held. News releases were issued. Muddiman eventually agreed to shoulder an estimated $200 million in costs to bury the power lines through the most sensitive areas along their path.
But then, as fast as it had arrived, Pegasus vanished.
Now it's back, with a new name, new investors, a simpler strategy and a high-powered team of consultants and lawyers to help negotiate the treacherous regulatory waters of Albany and Washington.
Surging back
The new and improved New York Regional Interconnect made its debut March 30 with a conference call to regional media and a slick Web site, featuring sounds of birds chirping and photos of windmills and a girl with sunlit blonde hair.
While Muddiman is the president of the new company, he has stepped noticeably out of public view. His Port Edward, Ontario, address has been replaced by an office in Albany.
The project's principal backer is now American Consumer Industries, a Delaware holding company led by Robert S. McLeese of Toronto, Canada.
Developers say they hope to start building in 2008 and plan to send enough electricity to power more than a million downstate homes by 2011.
The new proposal includes two potential routes:
One follows Pegasus' planned path along the railroad tracks, down the Delaware and across northern Orange County. The other parallels the planned Millennium natural gas pipeline through western Sullivan County and into Cuddebackville, where it rejoins the railroad.
Developers say they scouted the second path after realizing the Delaware route would face more opposition and might require expensive changes to their plan.
"We spent a lot of time looking at a lot of routes," said Bill May, the project manager. "We've determined this one is the best."
Either route would start at National Grid's Edic substation in Marcy and end at Central Hudson Electric & Gas Co.'s substation in the New Windsor hamlet of Rock Tavern.
Power grab?
Opponents have several reasons to take the project more seriously as the new company prepares to file its application with the state's Public Service Commission.
Regional Interconnect has hired Couch White, one of Albany's leading and best-connected lobbying law firms. In Washington, they're represented by Bracewell & Giuliani.
Not only does the law firm bear the name of "America's mayor," it also boasts several former top officials from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on its payroll.
That's significant because Regional Interconnect is asking the federal government to declare its proposed route an "electric transmission corridor of national interest."
If granted that distinction, which was first created in last year's Energy Policy Act, FERC could give Regional Interconnect the power to take private land by eminent domain.
Developers say they would rather pay landowners fair market value for land they need.
"That should eliminate any need to use eminent domain," May said. "It is not - 'not' with a capital 'N' - our intention to go that way."
Still, the possibility of takings will surely open an old wound cut in the mid-1980s, when the New York Power Authority brought Marcy-South to town. Many blamed that high-voltage power line for trashing property values along a similar route.
"We're talking about another one of those," Decker said. "It's a real blight."
So, when Regional Interconnect's promoters make the rounds to sell the project in a series of public hearings this week, they'll likely encounter some skepticism, if not hostility.
Farther up the Delaware, municipal and county officials are already working to stall the plan. U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, said he'll fight any effort to put above-ground power lines along a scenic river.
"We realize you have to have transmission lines," Hinchey said. "Do you do it in a way that's beneficial to the community? Or do you do it in a way that's injurious? If it's the latter, then we will have to oppose it."
Why DC over AC?Long before VHS and Betamax, the battle between alternating current and direct current raged. With DC, the electrical charge moves in a single direction. With AC, the charge oscillates in a steady flow.Because an alternating current proved to be more convenient for transmitting electrical current, most transmission has been done using AC. Over long distances, however, such as the 200-mile span proposed by the New York Regional Interconnect, too much power can dissipate from AC lines to make them economical.Increasingly, engineers, especially abroad, are turning to DC as a solution. For a similar reason, DC has long been used to transmit power along underwater cables.The Regional Interconnection project would carry 1,200 megawatts, or 400 kilovolts. That would make it slightly more powerful than the Marcy-South power lines installed in the mid-1980s, which carry 345 kilovolts of electricity.Direct current brings some other advantages. Since it only requires two cables, the pylons could be narrower in width. Also, the cables produce less noise and, since the earth generates direct current, they're thought to have less potential health effects. Scientists in the public and private sectors have found no firm link between electric transmission lines - AC or DC - and health problems.Brendan Scott
Want to know more?
New York Regional Interconnect has scheduled a series of community forums along the 200-mile route of the proposed 1,200-megawatt electric transmission line.
Local dates are as follows:
- 7 p.m. Thursday at New Windsor Town Hall on Union Avenue in New Windsor.
- 7 p.m. May 4 at the Mount Hope Senior Center on Baker Street in Otisville.
- Residents can also call 877-FYI-NYRI (877-394-6974), e-mail info@nyri.us or log onto
www.nyri.us.
==============
[end article]
