Power Line Proposed in Region
by Tom Grace

Cooperstown News Bureau

New York Regional Interconnect Inc. of Albany wants to build a $1 billion, 400-kilovolt power-transmission line from the town of Marcy, near Utica, to the town of New Windsor in Orange County.

Officials at the firm say the line is needed to provide more electricity to New York City and Long Island.

The line, comparable in size to the controversial Marcy-South line that bisected the region in the 1980s, would run through Chenango and Delaware counties on its way southeast.

NYRI has proposed two possible routes for its power line. Along one route, from Utica to Binghamton, the line would follow the tracks of the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway operated by Walter Rich of Cooperstown. Then from Binghamton, the line would follow the tracks of the Norfolk & Southern Railway, according to Bob Malecki, manager of regulatory affairs with NYRI.

On the NYS&W route, the line would run through the towns of Sherburne, North Norwich, and the city of Norwich on its way to Oxford and Greene.

An alternate route would turn east, just north of Norwich, and parallel county Route 32, the River Road, east of Norwich.

Following an existing electric line owned by the New York State Electric & Gas Corp., it would cut across the town of Guilford on its way to Deposit and Hancock in Delaware County.

Maps showing the two routes are available at the company’s website: http://www.nyri.us/menu.html.

Malecki said his firm wants to hear what people think of the two proposed routes before naming one as its preferred route. NYRI plans to file paperwork with the state’s Public Service Commission "this spring," he said.

If built, this line would break ground in a couple of ways. It would carry direct current, rather than the usual alternating current, and it would be the first large intra-state transmission line constructed by a firm that was neither a utility nor a public entity.

"This is part of the evolution of deregulation in the industry, and New York is one of the leading states in the deregulation mode," Malecki said.

When asked who would pay for the power line, he said NYRI is a group of investors who wish to remain anonymous. The firm’s president is Richard Muddiman, a Canadian, he said.

Muddiman has been trying to launch this project for several years with a Canadian firm, Pegasus Power Systems Inc., according to Bill Douglass, executive director of the Upper Delaware Council.

The Upper Delaware Council, a not-for-profit agency, has been lobbying against the project, saying it would destroy views along the Delaware River. The group and others in the area have asked Muddiman and his other investors to bury the line underground, if it must be built.

Malecki said that running the line underground would be too expensive and might make it less reliable.

Norwich town Supervisor David Law said Friday that, "I’m not sure what to say about this project, except it’s bound to be controversial."

Law, a member of Chenango County’s Planning Board, said, "We’ve heard a little bit about this before, but we’ve never gotten the whole picture. When I heard they were thinking of going right through the city, I thought that would never fly."

Donna Jones, Chenango County’s director of planning, said she has heard about the project, but hadn’t seen maps of the proposed routes yet.

Jones said she was aware of the Upper Delaware Council’s efforts to have the line run underground.

George Wright of Norwich, who lives between the two routes that are being proposed, also suggested that the line should be buried.

"I can’t believe they’d run a power line like that through the city of Norwich," he said.

Alice Woodford of Deposit, wife of the town’s supervisor, Stanley Woodford, said she’d read of the project but wanted to hear more about it before making up her mind.

"From what I read, it seems they’d like to do this, but it’s not a sure thing, yet," she said.

Douglass said he believes the proposal is serious and may come to pass more quickly than people realize because of federal changes made last year.

"This project was dormant for awhile, but I think there’s a lot of force behind it now," he said.

Malecki said NYRI plans to have the line constructed and operating by 2011.