Senate Republicans give $1 million to fight 200-mile power line project

ALBANY — Republicans in the state Senate will give as much as $1 million in taxpayer money to nine upstate New York counties to fight a proposal to build a 200-mile power line from the Utica area to Orange County in the lower Hudson Valley. The plan by Albany-based New York Regional Interconnect Inc. to build the high-voltage transmission line has generated fierce opposition in communities along the possible route. Many politicians representing those areas have come out against the $1.6 billion project. ‘’The proposed New York Regional Interconnect power line will cause significant damage to the economy of central New York by driving down real estate values, pushing up energy rates, and making the area less attractive to businesses,” Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said in a statement issued with other upstate Republicans who say the project will benefit New York City at the expense of their districts. The move comes as Republicans try to hold on to a 35-27 majority in this fall’s elections. ‘’It’s absurd for the state of New York to pay for a lobbying effort that pits one part of the state against another,” said state Sen. John Sabini, a Queens Democrat. ‘’Once again, the majority, with hidden funds and a lack of transparency, is using taxpayer money to influence policy. That’s wrong.” The money will come from discretionary funds set aside by lawmakers in the state budget and would be used to cover the counties’ legal expenses among other items. About $200 million is divvied up annually between the governor, Bruno and Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for pet projects, a practice long criticized by good government groups and others. ‘’Whether (the spending is) a good or bad idea should be an issue decided in public, not at the discretion of the Legislature,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. ‘’This money is doled out in secret and the legislature is not held to any measure of accountability.” NYRI says electricity demand in New York City’s northern suburbs is expected to outstrip supply in a few years, and a new high-capacity line is needed to bring power from central and western New York. The company did not immediately return a call for comment on the Senate’s action. The New York Independent System Operator, which controls the state’s power grid, estimates that in 2008 the lower Hudson Valley and metropolitan New York will need an extra 500 megawatts of capacity, either from new transmission, added generation, conservation or a combination of the three. The Senate money will go to the New York State Association of Counties, which will help Oneida, Herkimer, Madison, Chenango, Broome, Delaware, Ulster, Sullivan and Orange counties.