CHENANGO COUNTY – Four stipulations pertaining to certain evidence required of New York Regional Interconnect in its expected power line case were scarcely accepted Wednesday, following over a month of meetings between pro, neutral, and anti-www.evesun.com/topics/news/NYRI/">NYRI players to establish the ground rules.
So far, of the roughly dozen official parties that were involved – including the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Transportation – only NYRI and the state Public Service Commission staff signed-off on all four documents. The required studies and their stipulations are in regards to routing alternatives, threats to endangered species, visual impacts, and the power line’s effect on the Millennium natural gas pipeline downstate.
A lawyer for Communities Against Regional Interconnect, who participated in the hearings, said he was “disappointed” with the final stipulations and didn’t sign.
“The agreement doesn’t adequately define what will be studied or how it will be studied,” said CARI attorney John Kluscik, a lawyer with the Syracuse-based law firm Gilberti, Stinziano, and Heintz. “I’m disappointed that the Public Service Commission would enter into an agreement that principally defines a process, rather than defining the inquiry and analysis that will have to be undertaken.”
NYRI opponent David S. Smith, an attorney at Smith Campbell LLP in Manhattan, agreed.
“Three of the four stipulations relate directly to environmental issues, but the New York Department of Environmental Conservation didn’t sign on to any of them,” said Smith, also of the 1,000-member stopnyri.com group based in Sullivan County. “That speaks volumes about how these studies can’t be counted on to adequately address environmental concerns.”
The DEC was contacted late Thursday afternoon and did not return comment by press time.
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