UTICA, N.Y. - Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. announced that he has challenged top officials of New York Regional Interconnect to visit Oneida County for face-to-face meetings about the power line project being opposed by a swath of communities all along its route.

“For the past two and a half years, this project has been hanging over this community as a threat, with no one from NYRI ever taking the time to come here to sit down and talk with us,” Picente said. “Whether it is letters, press releases or legal documents, the only thing we have seen from NYRI is paper. The most recent letter I have received from NYRI President Chris Thompson implied that they want to talk, so I think it is long past time that they come here to this community and do just that.”

Picente, who has strongly opposed the NYRI project, said if NYRI refuses to accept the invitation to make its case in person, “NYRI’s actions will continue to speak louder than any words that this is a project that benefits a few at a cost too high for us to accept without fighting this project every step of the way.”

The text of the letter follows:

I have received your recent letters regarding the power line project New York Regional Interconnect is seeking to develop, and I have read with interest the statements and comments from Unions for Jobs and the Environment in regards to the proposed power line project.

Your August 29 letter urges me to “consider NYRI a solution that benefits all New Yorkers.”

I would love to take you up on your offer to meet with myself and other government officials who are faced with the prospect that the NYRI line would cut through their community. NYRI has never had a meaningful dialogue with the leadership and citizenry of Oneida County. All of the interaction by NYRI has been through press releases, newspaper interviews, and responses from your attorneys who have done little to address our questions or understand the issues that the NYRI line would pose to Oneida County residents.

Residents and businesses in Oneida County are living in fear that this project will destroy their homes, disrupt businesses, and pose other issues that would not be offset by your pledge of union jobs for construction workers, set aside construction jobs for veterans, and your pledge of tax dollars to host communities. Just so you understand things, many of the residents and workers in our county who would be impacted by the proposed NYRI line are union households, veterans, and family owned businesses. They are having a hard time comprehending why NYRI is good for them and the last time they checked, they were residents of New York State.

The Marcy NanoCenter initiative that is situated at the SUNY Institute of Technology in Marcy would be impacted by your proposed development. For the past two years, no one from NYRI has bothered to meet with our economic development team and business leadership to see how the NYRI project would impact the Marcy NanoCenter development or impact the SUNYIT campus. It is apparent that your technical advisors, attorneys and press spokespersons have glossed over this initiative, which is threatened by your proposed project. We are in the engineering phase for nearly $25 million in site development, infrastructure, and other related engineering and permitting for this project and we know first hand that your proposed route would cut through the Marcy NanoCenter site. If the line were relocated off site, there are concerns about other impacts associated with the NYRI line that have not been evaluated.

So in summary, since you have extended a willingness to meet, I want to take you up on this opportunity and invite you to meet with me, and other key local elected and business leaders so that we can hear more from you on how NYRI is good for our County. Perhaps we can take you on a tour of where your line would run, and show you the impacts that it would have on our community and then you can decide for yourself whether NYRI is truly good for all New Yorkers.