(WEB Site – Text only)
The Association recently called upon the
(NYPA) to go back to the drawing
boards and redraft its environmental assessment of a new power line proposed for the Tri-Lakes Region of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake,
Tupper Lake, and surrounding communities. 3/6/06
Association Gives Power Authority Failing Grade On Tri-Lakes Power Line Proposal
Instead, NYPA has chosen to push ahead in a rush to gain Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and other permit approvals of a power line route that fails on both energy and environmental planning grounds. “If done correctly, this project could be a model program of sustainable energy delivery and use. However, NYPA is essentially telling us and the APA that they are in too much of a hurry to do the job well,” said Mike DiNunzio, the Association’s Director of Special Projects. The power line project comes before the APA at the agency’s monthly meeting in Ray Brook later this week.
“We are very concerned for the health and safety of
Tri-Lakes residents who now must deal with an unreliable electric power
supply,” said DiNunzio. “The status quo is
unacceptable. Fortunately, providing reliable electricity in the region is
entirely compatible with protection of the environment of the
When NYPA announced its plans to build the power line last May, it seemed to acknowledge the need for an integrated package of facilities and programs that would improve the reliability of electrical service in the area, while protecting the environment and avoiding the negative side effects the new power could bring. But, according to David Gibson, the Association’s Executive Director, a more comprehensive approach to energy planning and development seems to have been abandoned in the frenzy to build the new line as quickly as possible.
“The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) requires that major actions like the Tri-Lakes Reliability Project be assessed in their entirety, not in a piecemeal fashion,” Gibson explained. “It appears that NYPA is apparently in too much of a hurry to follow the law and do the job right,” he said. “Nonetheless, I’m confident that the Adirondack Park Agency will do their duty and tell NYPA they must come clean and disclose all the related energy projects they have so far kept under wraps”, he added. “Otherwise, the Agency would help to undermine one of the fundamental provisions of SEQRA.”
Governor Pataki announced a year ago that the power line
itself is really only part of the larger Reliability Project, which NYPA has
promised will include a proposal to construct a biomass generation facility in
NYPA has admitted in their public comments that the biomass
plant in
“NYPA contends that the route chosen for their new power line would minimize environmental impacts, but this is clearly not so,” said Gibson. “Instead of routing the line down Route 56,” he said, “they prefer to construct a new, permanent 75-foot Right of Way (ROW) through six miles of privately-owned and sensitive boreal forest and wetlands.”
According to Mike DiNunzio, NYPA’s circuitous routing decision was clearly driven by their reluctance to take the time and trouble to seek an amendment to the “Forever Wild” clause of the New York State Constitution that could authorize the line to cross two miles of Forest Preserve along Route 56, a much shorter, less environmentally destructive route along the highway. “We are willing to work with NYPA and the State Legislature to help draft a tightly focused constitutional amendment to permit the line to cross the two miles of Forest Preserve,” he said. “If an amendment is approved in this legislative session, it could be resubmitted
to the new legislature and then to voters in the fall of 2007, well within the time frame NYPA is proposing to plan and build the line.”
“We are very disappointed that NYPA apparently believes the amendment process is too cumbersome and too uncertain for them to bother with. If NYPA truly views the status quo as unacceptable, as we do, they should be speaking with us and members of the State Legislature about a tightly focused constitutional amendment as soon as possible,” says Gibson.
The Association also takes issue with NYPA’s
contention that the Tri-Lakes Reliability Project will somehow avoid
stimulating significant new growth and a spiraling demand for yet more energy
in the years ahead. “We disagree,” Gibson said, “and we find a shocking lack of
an analysis to support NYPA’s conclusion.” For
example, NYPA admits that the Adirondack Club and Resort project proposed for
“NYPA and its partners could, and should, do much more to combine the new power line with a comprehensive, innovative set of energy conservation and efficiency programs to advance the ideal of an “energy smart park,” concluded DiNunzio. “By doing so, NYPA would help to promote the greening of the Park’s energy future, not the perpetuation of its environmental, economic, and community problems.”
The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is a
non-profit organization founded in 1901 to employ public education, citizen
action, public and private partnerships and strong advocacy to protect,
enhance, and sustain the wild character, ecological integrity, and mutual
well-being of the natural and human communities of the
(WEB Site – Text only)
The Association Applauds State Legislature's Passage of Land
Exchange
To Permit
Power Line to Adjoin Rt. 56.
Niskayuna, NY – The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks applauded successful first passage in the State Legislature yesterday of an amendment to the State Constitution's Article 14 that would permit a future, new 46kV power line to be routed along State Route 56 and avoid damaging adjacent spruce-fir forest and sensitive private land.
The amendment authorizes the state to convey to National Grid up to six acres of State Forest Preserve land adjoining Rt 56 for the purpose of constructing the new power line. In exchange, ten acres owned by National Grid elsewhere would be conveyed to the state for incorporation into the Adirondack Forest Preserve.
"The Association thanks the New York Power Authority,
National Grid, and particularly Senator Betty Little and Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli for their sponsorship and quick action to secure
successful passage during this legislative session," says David Gibson,
Association executive director. "The amendment makes complete sense for
this important electric reliability project, for adjoining private landowners
and for the
The Association estimates that this constitutionally authorized route would be approximately four miles shorter, hundreds of thousands of dollars less expensive and far less environmentally damaging than the route permitted earlier this month by the Adirondack Park Agency.
"State lawmakers today took the right action.
"We have argued that a six mile long route around the
Forest Preserve to the west of Route 56 on private lands, recently permitted by
the Adirondack Park Agency, would cause undue adverse impacts to the natural
resources of the
"With this constitutionally authorized alternative, all that is avoided. The power line construction will utilize the existing Rt. 56 ROW as much as possible and only require the removal or alteration of 4-6 acres of less sensitive forest land beyond the ROW," DiNunzio concludes.
Like all constitutional amendments, this land exchange is required to undergo passage in two separately elected legislatures, followed by a vote of the public. Therefore, the same land exchange will need to be passed in next year's new legislature, permitting the exchange to come before the voters in the fall of 2007. This schedule would meet the New York Power Authority's projected timetable for completion of the line in the following year. The Association will encourage voters to support the land exchange on election day 2007.
The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is a
non-profit organization founded in 1901 to employ public education, citizen
action, public and private partnerships and strong advocacy to protect,
enhance, and sustain the wild character, ecological integrity, and mutual
well-being of the natural and human communities of the
AfPA has worked with the New York
Power Authority (NYPA), members of the New York State Legislature and sister
organizations to achieve first passage of a constitutional amendment to permit
a new 46-kilovolt power line that will serve Lake Placid and
(WEB Site – Text only)
www.rcpa.org
S.1127/A.7243
An Act proposing an amendment to section 1 of article 14
of the constitution, in relation to the use of certain forest preserve lands by
National Grid to construct a 46kV power line along County Route 56 in St.
Lawrence county
Background: The Problem is a
The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA) supports passage of S.1127/A.7243 an Act that “Authorizes the state to convey to National Grid certain forest preserve lands to construct a power line in St. Lawrence County.” This is the second passage of this proposed Constitutional Amendment. This legislation was passed in 2006 by both the Assembly and Senate.
This legislation is designed to facilitate an improved and
shorter route for a new 46 kV power line for the New York Power Authority
(NYPA) project, to be transferred to National Grid Corporation, from the Stark
Falls Reservoir in St. Lawrence County to
The RCPA supports the intent of this project and the addition of the second line, but had concerns about the route. Unfortunately, in the approved permit issued by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) in the spring of 2006 an environmentally destructive route was authorized for this new line. S. 1127 would rectify this situation by amending the State Constitution to swap six acres of land that would facilitate keeping the new power line along the side of county Route 56 in St. Lawrence County, avoiding a 6-mile overland route.
The APA permit contained approval for a controversial 6-mile stretch along Route 56 in St. Lawrence County where it passes through the Raquette-Boreal Wild Forest Area of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. The RCPA advocated that the power line remain in the highway corridor, yet this project received APA approval for an overland route that leaves the highway corridor and cuts a new 75-foot-wide clearcut swath through private forestlands, while circling around Forest Preserve lands. This swath involves condemnation of private lands, crossing of several large wetlands, and is six miles in length compared with a two miles if kept on roadside.
In addition to being environmentally damaging, the route
approved by the APA, will be much more expensive to construct given that it’s
four miles longer and involves numerous wetlands crossing, will be much more
expensive to maintain in the years to come, and will serve as an opening for an
array of invasive species. Further, the line is proposed to be built in part
along the northern edge of Seveys Bog, one of the
most important and spectacular bogs in the Northeast. The communities of the
S.1127/A.7243 Provides a Solution, Prevents Environmental Damage
There is a solution and that is through a Constitutional
Amendment. RCPA believes that construction that utilizes the Route 56 corridor
where it passes through the
The Residents’ Committee to Protect the
The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks is a privately
funded not-for-profit organization dedicated to the stewardship and protection
of the natural environment and human communities of the
For more information: Peter Bauer 518/251-4257,
ext 13.
March 21, 2007
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