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Approval of a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot would allow a land swap along State Route 56 in Colton so that the New York Power Authority and National Grid can avoid a six-mile detour through the Adirondack Park in bringing a new power line to Tupper Lake.
Adirondack Council Communications Director John F. Sheehan said the detour would be “environmentally disastrous,” as it would involve road construction through an old-growth forest, cross 95 streams and wetlands and infringe upon habitat for the endangered spruce grouse.
“It would also erect a permanent barrier to expansion of that section of the Forest Preserve,” he said.
The power line, which has already been activated, runs from the Stark Falls Reservoir to the village of Tupper Lake.
It needs an after-the-fact constitutional amendment because it traverses a section of the state Forest Preserve protected by Article 14, Section 1 of the New York State Constitution, also known as the “Forever Wild” clause. The clause forbids logging or development on the preserve.
Sheehan said the Senate and the Assembly have approved the amendment, noting that Tupper Lake has been a frequent victim of mid-winter blackouts because it only has one power source. In fact, he said, the amendment required passage by two separately elected legislatures.
“The Adirondack Council is leading an effort to approve the amendment because it allows the legislature to swap a few acres of roadside Forest Preserve for a wilder parcel away from the highway,” he said. “With no national or state-wide elections this fall, turnout is expected to be lower than usual, so we are leading a ‘get-out-the-vote’ effort to educate New Yorkers about the importance of allowing the project to move forward.”
When the power line was first proposed, the New York Power Authority sought to avoid conflict with environmental organizations by detouring the line away from the Forest Preserve on the roadside and into the adjoining woods. But the only clear path available to avoid the strip of public lands would have required a detour through a white pine old-growth forest, as well as construction of a new maintenance road in the woods.
Instead, Sheehan said the Adirondack Council and others asked the Power Authority and National Grid to build the line on the roadside, through the preserve. In return, National Grid would swap a few acres of roadside Forest Preserve for a wilder parcel away from the highway. This, he said, would add back to the Forest Preserve lands of equal or greater value to the public than the former preserve lands occupied by the power poles.
“The constitutional amendment will bring substantial benefits to the Adirondack Park with the addition of over 43 acres of forest land conveyed by National Grid to the state for conservation in St. Lawrence County, in exchange for less than six acres of Forest Preserve land the state will deed to National Grid for the line,” said Jim Bunyan, project manager for National Grid, in a release.
In the same release, Bunyan said the line was necessary because the reliability of the electrical system in the Tri-Lakes region (Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake) has been increasingly challenged as the population and use of technology continue to grow.
“Power outages over the past few winters have required the village to put people in shelters so they did not freeze to death,” said Sheehan. “The village had been at the end of a line that came via Malone and Saranac Lake, and it frequently lost power when trees fell on the wire.”
If it is approved by the voters, Sheehan said the legislature would pass “enabling legislation” in January 2010 to carry out the land swap.
Approval of a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot would allow a land swap along State Route 56 in Colton so that the New York Power Authority and National Grid can avoid a six-mile detour through the Adirondack Park in bringing a new power line to Tupper Lake.
Adirondack Council Communications Director John F. Sheehan said the detour would be “environmentally disastrous,” as it would involve road construction through an old-growth forest, cross 95 streams and wetlands and infringe upon habitat for the endangered spruce grouse.
“It would also erect a permanent barrier to expansion of that section of the Forest Preserve,” he said.
The power line, which has already been activated, runs from the Stark Falls Reservoir to the village of Tupper Lake.
It needs an after-the-fact constitutional amendment because it traverses a section of the state Forest Preserve protected by Article 14, Section 1 of the New York State Constitution, also known as the “Forever Wild” clause. The clause forbids logging or development on the preserve.
Sheehan said the Senate and the Assembly have approved the amendment, noting that Tupper Lake has been a frequent victim of mid-winter blackouts because it only has one power source. In fact, he said, the amendment required passage by two separately elected legislatures.
“The Adirondack Council is leading an effort to approve the amendment because it allows the legislature to swap a few acres of roadside Forest Preserve for a wilder parcel away from the highway,” he said. “With no national or state-wide elections this fall, turnout is expected to be lower than usual, so we are leading a ‘get-out-the-vote’ effort to educate New Yorkers about the importance of allowing the project to move forward.”
When the power line was first proposed, the New York Power Authority sought to avoid conflict with environmental organizations by detouring the line away from the Forest Preserve on the roadside and into the adjoining woods. But the only clear path available to avoid the strip of public lands would have required a detour through a white pine old-growth forest, as well as construction of a new maintenance road in the woods.
Instead, Sheehan said the Adirondack Council and others asked the Power Authority and National Grid to build the line on the roadside, through the preserve. In return, National Grid would swap a few acres of roadside Forest Preserve for a wilder parcel away from the highway. This, he said, would add back to the Forest Preserve lands of equal or greater value to the public than the former preserve lands occupied by the power poles.
“The constitutional amendment will bring substantial benefits to the Adirondack Park with the addition of over 43 acres of forest land conveyed by National Grid to the state for conservation in St. Lawrence County, in exchange for less than six acres of Forest Preserve land the state will deed to National Grid for the line,” said Jim Bunyan, project manager for National Grid, in a release.
In the same release, Bunyan said the line was necessary because the reliability of the electrical system in the Tri-Lakes region (Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake) has been increasingly challenged as the population and use of technology continue to grow.
“Power outages over the past few winters have required the village to put people in shelters so they did not freeze to death,” said Sheehan. “The village had been at the end of a line that came via Malone and Saranac Lake, and it frequently lost power when trees fell on the wire.”
If it is approved by the voters, Sheehan said the legislature would pass “enabling legislation” in January 2010 to carry out the land swap.
