Schumer, Clinton Introduce Bill To Protect State's Right To Oppose NYRI's Current Power Line Route

Press Release

Schumer, Clinton Introduce Bill To Protect State's Right To Oppose NYRI's Current Power Line Route

Today, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hilary Rodham Clinton announced that they introduced legislation in the Senate to rein in the ability of the private power company New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) to opt out of the more thorough and appropriate New York State Public Service (PSC) approval process in an attempt to gain approval at the federal level for its highly controversial proposed power line route. The legislation is designed to curtail the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to unilaterally establish power line routes through New York State, while stripping FERC of its eminent domain powers and blocking it from overriding New York State's siting process.

The Senators today emphasized that NYRI's proposed route is inappropriate by design, cutting through scenic areas and vibrant communities, but that their legislation will would not infringe on more appropriate projects.

"It's crystal clear that the current legal arrangement is inherently flawed, leaving the state on the sidelines when it comes to determining where NYRI's proposed route will run and how it will affect local communities," said Senator Schumer. "This legislation is designed to scale back federal laws that supersede New York State's right to influence proposed line routes in its own backyard, and it strips private companies of their right to build power lines along any path and through any community and pristine park, wherever they want and however they want."

"This bill will ensure that NYRI cannot make an end run around the state's rigorous review and siting process. The project has the potential to impact so many New York communities along the proposed route, and their serious concerns should not be ignored or overridden," Senator Clinton said.

In the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress authorized the Department of Energy to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC) in congested areas of the high-voltage power grid, including one corridor that stretches along the East Coast and includes a large chunk of New York State. Congress, in turn, granted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) new authority to permit construction of transmission lines in the designated NIET corridors to companies like NYRI.

FERC was given the authority to issue construction permits in cases where a state permitting authority, like the PSC, either fails to act or is unable to act on an application for siting authority. However, the EP Act included a provision that allowed FERC to grant a permit when a state has "withheld approval" of transmission facilities. FERC determined that "withheld approval" applies both to a state's denial of permits and a state's failure to act on permits. Thus, a denial is treated the same as inaction, and the denied project can be presented to FERC for approval after one year.

Another problematic provision gave power line permit holders, like NYRI, the right to petition in U.S. district court to acquire rights of way for the construction of transmission lines through the power of eminent domain. Under current law, a project such as NYRI would be allowed to use the new federal right of eminent domain to condemn private property along its route between Utica and Orange County.

It was in the aftermath of the Energy Policy Act, which Senator Schumer opposed, that NYRI, a private power company, proposed the construction of an approximately 200-mile high voltage direct current (HVDC) electric transmission line from Oneida County to Orange County. The proposed route runs through federally protected parks and scores of local communities. Critics argue it will create enormous 150-foot tall, 75-foot wide high voltage lines, ruining historic landscapes and trampling on private property rights.

To reverse the unfettered power given to FERC that supersedes the state's ability to influence proposed power routes in their own backyard, Schumer and Clinton today announced that they introduced legislation that would accomplish the following:

* Eliminate FERC's authority to grant right-of-way to permit holders, as created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

* States that only in a situation where the proper state entity has unreasonably delayed in acting on a permit for more than two years, may FERC issue a permit.

* Reverses FERC rulemaking and clarifies that a state denial of a permit is not equivalent to state inaction.

* Clarifies that if the proper state entity denies an application for an interstate transmission line within two years, that decision may not be appealed to FERC.

Source