Mar 2 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Corey Fram Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.

 

A proposal to cast a high-voltage power line through southeastern St. Lawrence County to the tri-lakes region of the Adirondack Mountains is moving forward.

The New York Power Authority's Board of Trustees approved a report Tuesday outlining the project's environmental impacts and announced Wednesday that an application has been sent to the Adirondack Park Agency. If approved, the APA will issue a permit letting NYPA begin design work with National Grid. The APA meets March 9 and 10.

The plan calls for NYPA to extend a 46-kilovolt power line from the Stark reservoir in South Colton along Route 56 to Route 3 and into Franklin County. The project is to provide Tupper Lake with more reliable power and strengthen Lake Placid's electrical network.

The proposal, endorsed in NYPA's environmental impact report, swings the power line west of Route 56 near Leonard Pond in South Colton to avoid a state-designated forest preserve before connecting back to the highway.

"The rigorous examination conducted through this environmental study process clearly shows the power authority has given the utmost attention to fulfilling Governor George E. Pataki's commitment of balancing the sensitive ecology in the Adirondack Park with the immediate health and safety needs of park residents," NYPA President and Chief Executive Officer Timothy S. Carey said in a statement announcing the board's approval.

The Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks environmental group has been fighting that move, saying the line will be less environmentally damaging if it stays along Route 56 through the forest preserve.

"We're very disappointed. We think that the power authority is moving too quickly and that both the APA and power authority have embraced an environmentally damaging plan for the project," RCPA Executive Director Peter D. Bauer said.

The committee will lobby the APA to hold a public hearing on the project application.

Construction of the line is slated to begin this year for 2008 operation.