NYRI submits Article VII application

CHENANGO COUNTY – The Albany-based company that has talked of running a high power line from Marcy to Rock Tavern, bisecting Chenango County, made its official application with the state Wednesday.

New York Regional Interconnect released a statement confirming they filed their Article VII Application with the New York State Public Service Commission seeking regulatory approval to build a 190 mile, 400 kV direct current (HVDC) transmission line from Oneida to Orange County. The application officially starts the approval process of a project that has garnered massive resistance since the company originally announced its intentions on March 30.

The power line would use towers between 80 and 130 feet tall every 800 feet to reinforce what NYRI claims is an inadequate down-state electrical infrastructure, or power grid. Arguments against such a project have focused on the visual blight such a line would create, health risks, and the use of eminent domain by a private company. The primary route the company plans to use would bisect Chenango County through the towns of Sherburne, North Norwich, Norwich, Guilford, Bainbridge and Afton. The alternate route would cut through the Town of Sherburne, the City of Norwich, the Village of Oxford and the Village of Greene, before heading south to the City of Binghamton.