State of New York Public Service
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STATE OF NEW YORK PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION _________________________________________________________ Application of Upstate NY Power Corp. for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need for a 50.6 mile 230kV Transmission Facility from Galloo Island in the town of Hounsfield, Jefferson County, to the Fitzpatrick-Edic Substation in the Town of Mexico, Oswego County. Case No.: 09-T-0049 _________________________________________________________ PUBLIC HEARING, before Administrative Law Judges Jeffrey E. Stockholm and Kevin J. Casutto, presiding, held on November 16, 2009, at 8939 NYS Route 178, Henderson, New York, commencing at 11:00 a.m., before Terry Clark, Court Reporter and Notary Public in and for the State of New York. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 2 1 PUBLIC HEARING 2 PUBLIC HEARING 3 NOVEMBER 16, 2009 4 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: Ladies and 5 gentlemen, if we could come to order, please, 6 we'll begin the public statement comments. 7 What I would ask you is when I call your 8 name to please come up to this microphone in 9 the front. That will greatly assist the 10 stenographer in getting your words down 11 accurately and completely, and we will call 12 these cards in the order that we got them. 13 Are there any questions before we begin? 14 UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Do we face 15 you? 16 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: As long as you use 17 the microphone you can face any way you 18 want. However, the comments are referred to 19 us. That's the purpose of the hearing. 20 Okay, let's begin. I call Case 09-T-0049, 21 application of Upstate New York Power Corp. 22 for a Certificate of Environmental 23 Compatibility and Public Need for a 50.6 mile 24 230kV Transmission Facility from Galloo Island 25 in the Town of Hounsfield, Jefferson County PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 3 1 PUBLIC HEARING 2 to the Fitzpatrick-Edic Substation in the 3 Town of Mexico, Oswego County. 4 Ladies and gentlemen, my name is 5 Jeffrey Stockholm, and with me is Judge Kevin 6 Cusutto, and we are the Judges that are 7 assigned by the Public Service Commission to 8 hear this proceeding. This proceeding has 9 just begun. It will be a number of months 10 long, but this is the very beginning. The 11 very first piece of formal record to go to 12 the commission are the statements that you're 13 making today. All of those statements both 14 oral and written, should you choose to do 15 that, will be in the formal record of this 16 case before the Commission when it ultimately 17 makes its determination. The purpose, as you 18 all know, is to make statements, and let me 19 begin then with the first card that I have, 20 which is Roberta French. Miss French. 21 MS. FRENCH: Okay. Is this 22 supposed to be used? 23 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: You can do 24 anything you want. 25 MS. FRENCH: Is it live? PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 4 1 PUBLIC HEARING 2 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: Yes, it's live. 3 MS. FRENCH: Okay, I'm not going to 4 take too much of your time this morning, 5 because we're Sandy Creek residents and we 6 have a Sandy Creek blueberry farm right 7 across from, or right near the Sandy Creek 8 Fairgrounds. A little advertising. It so 9 happens that we, number one, we didn't hear 10 of this meeting or of any of this until 11 Thursday, so we're really not too well 12 prepared, but we're doing our best. It 13 seems as if the proposed line is to go right 14 straight through the middle of the blueberry 15 farm which we have be working at and getting 16 started for the last six years. We have 17 built a pond. We have irrigation. The 18 present blueberry site is three acres. The 19 next phase will be another five acres, and 20 the third phase will be another seven acres. 21 This has been worked. It's a beautiful 22 spot. To our surprise, people have come 23 from all over, way up past Sackets Harbor 24 way down towards Syracuse. Up and down the 25 lake people have been coming to this PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 5 1 PUBLIC HEARING 2 blueberry farm, and it's only been producing 3 two years. The second year we produced 4 twice as much as we did the first year. We 5 have people from Connecticut that come here 6 in the summer. They love this place. It's 7 beautiful. They bring their children. To 8 run high-tension wires through this 9 magnificent area, you know, I love it, but 10 it's gorgeously clean and we propose, we have 11 a proposal which we will submit that will 12 possibly go around the blueberry fields, the 13 present one and the proposed one. I'd like 14 to just make a great point that we knew 15 nothing about this. We have not ever been 16 informed, and I don't know how they decided 17 to run through a blueberry or a deer fence 18 on both sides and go over or under or 19 whatever they want to do through here. I 20 have a drawing. If anybody wants to look at 21 it, pick it up. It's probably two-thirds of 22 the existing blueberry field that is now 23 producing. So, I have questions. My one 24 question is how high are these columns, these 25 posts, and I understand the posts are going PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 6 1 PUBLIC HEARING 2 to be 5 to 600 feet apart, if that's 3 correct, and I understand they might be about 4 a hundred feet. So, if anybody from the 5 engineer department wants to clarify that, 6 I'd appreciate it. 7 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: Ma'am, if you 8 could speak with those technical people after 9 your statement, that would be fine. This is 10 not the forum to put in that specific kind 11 of evidence. 12 MS. FRENCH: Okay. Thank you. I 13 have with with me my partner, my niece, from 14 New Jersey. She has been put in hours and 15 hours on this with my son and his wife. We 16 all have been working on this place, and 17 each one of us have specific talents which 18 have gone together to produce this farm and 19 the whole blueberry site, which by the way, 20 we're the only one between farther down in 21 Pulaski or Mexico and up north towards 22 Massena. So, I guess that's our statement. 23 Margie, do you have anything, who is my 24 partner? You're second in line I understand 25 to speak anyways, if you want to add to it. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 7 1 PUBLIC HEARING 2 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: Margaret Gavin. 3 MS. GAVIN: Yes. 4 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: By the way, I 5 apologize but if you have specific proposals, 6 which I think I heard Miss French say, you 7 should make sure that you get those specific 8 proposals to the staff of the department as 9 well as to the applicant. 10 MS. GAVIN: Okay. I think my aunt 11 has said just about all that needs to be 12 said about the blueberry place and how much 13 effort we've put into it and how really 14 upsetting it is to have, you know, all your 15 work and then you hear through some fluke 16 thing that they're going to put a 17 high-tension pole through there, couple big 18 poles. I mean, it's just not aesthetically 19 pleasing. It's an organic blueberry farm and 20 we care about the environment and what they 21 put in their bodies, and then I hear things, 22 you know, I get things off the internet that 23 says the high-tension wires can cause cancer 24 from the electromagnetic field. Now, you 25 know, there's studies that say that's not PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 8 1 PUBLIC HEARING 2 true and studies that say it is true, but 3 for me I'm a little sensitive about it 4 because I finished radiation on Thursday, 5 okay, and for me to have to work under this 6 wire eight, ten hours a day for three, four 7 months and worry about that, that's enough to 8 cause something. So, they need to move it. 9 I have looked at the drawings. There's all 10 kinds of bends on that thing to avoid trees. 11 They can avoid the blueberry farm where 12 people are going to be out there picking and 13 we're going to be out there working, and 14 that's all I have to say about it, and they 15 should have notified us. Thank you. 16 JUDGE STOCKHOLM: Thank you for your 17 comments. The next speaker I have is George 18 Randleman. Is he here? Okay, if he comes 19 back we'll save that. The next card I have 20 is for Holly Austin. 21 MS. HOLLY AUSTIN: Hello.