CHENANGO COUNTY – According to a recently released five-year option agreement between New York Regional Interconnect Inc. and the New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad, the power line developer will dish out $1.5 million in fees to the rail company until 2008 for the right to purchase land along its tracks.
The lease information was made available following a lawsuit in state Supreme Court brought on by the Utica-Observer Dispatch that requested the details of the agreement under the Freedom of Information Law.
www.evesun.com/topics/news/NYRI/">NYRI, a subsidiary of a Canadian energy firm, is planning to build a 190-mile-long high voltage power line from Oneida to Orange County, cutting through 44 miles of Chenango. If approved, the line would be built mostly on rail and utility right of ways, which includes a roughly 50-mile stretch of NYS&W tracks from Utica to Woods Corners.
“I’m a little disturbed that the railroad would sell the right of way to a company or to www.evesun.com/topics/news/NYRI/">NYRI – who is not even a U.S. company – and just sell-out our pristine landscapes and communities,” said Richard Decker, chairman of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors. “The railroad has received quite a bit of county and state support over the years. I guess that’s the thanks we get.”
Officials from the NYS&W did not return comment Wednesday.
Since 2001, the NYS&W has received $12 million in state Department of Transportation funding. It has also operated tax-free in the county – saving the rail-line at least $200,000 dollars annually – since 1982, under a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement. The railroad has similar incentives in Broome and Madison counties. Last fall Oneida County canceled its PILOT agreement with the railroad because of its deal with NYRI.
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