The first gubernatorial candidate has come out against the proposed power line in our area.

John Faso, Republican candidate for governor, says "No Way" to the power line if he were elected to the state's top spot this Fall. He spent some time in Central New York today to speak out against it and pledge his support for the citizen action groups in our area.

Faso told the Upstate New York Citizens Alliance that he agrees with their belief that the power line is a bad idea.

The citizen's group has extended invitations to other politicians, but Faso is the first of the gubernatorial candidates to agree to meet.

Today he told the group his ideas to still get the power to where it is needed, but without making upstate pay for it. He says he wants to use new technology to have the current power lines carry more energy.

Also, in the event a new power plant needs to be built, he wants to see it closer to where the power is needed. Faso says putting up another power line is not the long term answer to this problem and it would only scar the communities it would run through.

Faso says, "It adversely effects too many of the communities from Oneida County to Orange County, it will cost us too much and there are other alternatives like upgrading existing transmission facilities that already exist and we could do that feasibly and less expensively."

Faso and the citizens alliance also discussed today's announcement by the Department of Energy designating New York City as a "Critical Congestion Area" for energy. The DOE is hoping to speed up the construction of new ways to get energy to these places to provide some relief.

Faso and the Citizens Alliance hopes this latest report does not work in favor of New York Regional Interconnect and their proposed power line.

Faso's opponent, Democrat Eliot Spitzer's camp says his position is one of deep skepticism on the project. Tom Suozzi's camp didn't return our calls today, but recently he's said he supports putting the power lines underground.