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NYRI to submit plans to state for power line
Firm proposes transmitting electricity through part of Chenango County
Daily Star
May 31, 2006
 By Tom Grace

New York Regional Interconnect Inc. of Albany will file an application this week with the New York State Public Service Commission to build a $1 billion, 400 kilovolt power line from Marcy to New Windsor.

"The application is being printed and bound now," Jon Pierce, a spokesman for the firm, said Tuesday.

Incorporated in April 2005 in Albany, NYRI is a group of investors who have chosen to remain anonymous. Their plan has angered many people along the line’s planned routes, which would cut across Chenango, Delaware and possibly Broome counties on the way to Orange County.

Politicians have responded to constituents’ concerns and several, including state Sens. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope; James Seward, R-Milford; Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton; and Raymond Meier, R-Western, have criticized the project.

Pierce said company officials had anticipated these reactions from local leaders.

"They’re responding to their constituents, and we understand that," he said.

NYRI has proposed two possible routes for its massive power line. Both routes would follow the tracks of the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway from Marcy to Norwich. In Norwich, one alternate route would leave the railroad tracks and parallel an existing electric line operated by New York State Electric & Gas Corp.

Pierce said NYRI and NYSEG have had preliminary discussions about sharing the right-of-way but have not yet worked out an agreement.

"Our discussions are about the stage we expected," he said.

After NYRI’s application is filed with the PSC, it may be easier to negotiate an agreement, he said.

NYRI’s other proposed route would follow the NYS&W railroad tracks to Broome County before heading east to Orange County.

Pierce said, "We already have a completed business agreement" with the railroad, which is operated by Walter Rich of Cooperstown.

A call to the NYS&W to confirm the agreement was returned by Thomas O’Neil of The Marcus Group, a New York City-based public relations firm retained by the railroad. O’Neil said there is an agreement between NYRI and the NYS&W, but he was unsure when it was reached.

Asked what the terms of the agreement are, O’Neil said he believed the parties had agreed to keep that a private matter.

O’Neil did say that Rich is not one of NYRI’s investors.

"That’s the second time I’ve been asked that, and no, he is not," he said.

Employees at the state Department of State said Tuesday that NYRI’s incorporation papers were filed last year by the law firm Cohen, Dax & Koenig of Albany. One of the partners, John Dax, is a former attorney for the Public Service Commission, according to Dave Flanagan, PSC spokesman.

Pierce said this law firm is no longer employed by the company, which has retained Couch White of Albany, as well as a firm based in Washington, D.C.

An employee said the State Department will contact NYRI in April 2007, two years after the incorporation papers were filed, seeking further information from the firm.

The paperwork will be sent to Cohen, Dax & Koenig because that is the name on the incorporation filing, she said.