State heavyweights challenge Washington’s ‘energy corridors’

CHENANGO COUNTY – Washington’s newly-acquired authority to take over the New York Regional Interconnect power line case, and others like it, is unwarranted and founded on watered-down studies and brash legal interpretations, at least two state agencies contend.

The state Public Service Commission – the agency that approves or denies power line projects in New York – and the Department of Environmental Conservation both say the feds overstepped their bounds when creating two “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors” last month.

Inside the corridors – one of which covers 47 counties in New York – the federal government can take over a power line review if a project has been denied at the state level or its approval has been withheld for more than a year after filing a permit application.

The corridor policy is meant to increase investment and upgrades in the electricity grid in areas that have been deemed “critically congested” by the U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE.

A press release issued Monday on behalf of the PSC claims the DOE designated the corridor in New York based on an unfounded prediction that New York’s energy consumption and its need for new power lines would increase.

“The DOE concluded that consumers were adversely affected by transmission congestion even though the DOE did not measure the consumer costs of transmission congestion and identify the costs of new or upgraded transmission facilities,” the release states.

According to the DEC, the DOE also side-stepped a federal law that required it to meet with state agencies and develop an environmental impact assessment before designating the energy corridors.

“This designation puts the goal of increasing energy transmission – regardless of environmental impacts – above New York’s environmental laws and policies,” said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis Monday. “In fact, the designation raises many questions about impacts, from air quality to Forest Preserve land to natural heritage areas to wild and scenic rivers. Rather than bypassing environmental reviews, federal authorities should begin a full assessment at the earliest possible time to ensure that planning and decisions reflect environmental values.”