Court ruling on NYRI Power Line a victory...but for whom?

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Court ruling on NYRI Power Line a victory...but for whom?

By JOLEEN FERRIS

Story Created: Feb 19, 2009 at 12:40 PM EST

Story Updated: Feb 19, 2009 at 5:12 PM EST

(WKTV) - A federal appeals court has ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or, "FERC", has overstepped its mandate in regard to siting the proposed power line that New York Regional Interconnect wants to place through central New York, in order to feed power downstate.

The court ruling puts the siting process back in the state's lap -something New York's senior U.S. Senator, Chuck Schumer, says is good for upstate New Yorkers who don't want the power line in their backyards.

"We know if the state government, where we have two good representatives, decides where the lines should go - if they should go anywhere at all - we have a much better chance than if there are five faceless bureaucrats appointed years ago from the FERC," says Schumer.

However, NYRI's chief legal counsel also seems to think that the latest ruling is a win for them.

"NYRI believes that if the project is judged on its merits by an independent, objective siting authority, it will find that the project is in the public interest," says NYRI chief counsel Len Singer.

Senator Schumer says that the ruling isn't absolutely final; he says NYRI can still appeal to the highest court in the U.S.: the United States Supreme Court.

However, Schumer thinks the likelihood of the highest court hearing the appeal is minimal.

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