by Frank R. Eadie

Wall Street’s Blackstone Group is funding the creation of a  high voltage electrical corridor with a cable system to carry a gigawatt of power 336 miles from the Quebec border to the Ravens-wood power plant in Queens. 

This project, known as the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE), involves new construction procedures to lay direct-current (DC) cable under Lake Champlain and much of the Hudson River. The project’s environmental impact study (EIS) discloses that the cables will travel 140 miles under or above ground, beneath or beside streets, highways or railroad tracks.

The EIS indicates that CHPE will be given, or will acquire, rights-of-way through 156 parks and other public spaces.  For 127 miles the cables will run beside or under tracks of the CP and CSX railroads, which carry millions of gallons per day of tar sands sludge and Bakken crude oil across upstate and down the Hudson. In New York, 20,200 acres will be affected. Some of this area will be acquired by CHPE via eminent domain.

“CHPE is the largest proposed industrial project in the history of New York, and Governor Cuomo has  recently appointed William Mulrow, formerly the Blackstone Group’s senior managing director, as his secretary,” said Annie Wilson, senior energy policy advisor for the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project, which has been providing legal support for the impacted communities.

The route goes through Dresden Station, Whitehall and Saratoga Springs to Schenectady, Rotterdam and New Scotland, then through Catskill. It reemerges at Stony Point and runs to Clarkstown, then under the Lower Hudson to the Harlem River, landing at a planned DC-to-AC converter station in Queens at Luyster Creek. From there, a line will travel 3.6 miles under Queens’ streets to the Ravenswood power plant/substation.

The proposed converter station in Queens is described as approximately 4.5 acres in size.  The high voltage direct current converter station building would be approximately 165 feet by 325 feet, with a building footprint of 1.2 acres and a height of approximately 70 feet, with transformers, cooling equipment, and power line carrier filters installed outside of the building.  This will be certainly a contestant for the largest building in Astoria—visible from three boroughs!

The project also requires the construction and maintenance of 16 cooling stations.  These are necessary for the land-based cables and will require the construction of above-ground buildings, which will also be a serious source of noise and thermal pollution.  The cooling stations are described in the EIS as occupying only 128 square feet of land area.

The developer’s rationale for the project’s approval is cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable electricity for New York City.  How Blackstone and its partner, Hydro Quebec, will profit is unclear.  But it is certain that if they succeed, several New York businesses and their employees will be harmed.  Much of New York’s electrical grid is old and needs upgrading.  Many power generators, including wind energy producers, are unable to get their electricity to the NYC metro area. CHPE will ensure that this will not change.

Bill Meyer, conservation chair for the Atlantic Chapter, concurs: “The CHPE is 100 per cent Canadian energy coming into New York and expressly prevents any state-based energy from being accepted. Thus, the energy supply and cables will short circuit New York’s energy economy at a time when we need to develop our own renewable energy resources and the well-paying jobs that come with it.”

New York electricity generators and 22 labor unions oppose the CHPE—it promises only 300 temporary and 26 permanent jobs. The EIS says the construction crew will come from out of state. 

The electricity will come from existing mega dams, dams under construction and some in planning phase, in far eastern Quebec, more than 1,200 miles away. These dams do not qualify as eligible renewable energy technology for the New York Renewable Portfolio Standard.  New York does not, and is not projected to, need more electricity for at least 20 years.

A good deal of opposition has come from Rockland County.  The cables would come ashore just north of the Stony Point Battlefield State Park and the Waldron Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Cemetery and be buried beside the CSX tracks through Haverstraw and West Haverstraw.  As a bonus, there will be six cooling stations in this seven-mile stretch, three in the state park.  No special consideration is to be given to the cemetery.  Part of Iona Island, a National Natural Landmark and a bird sanctuary that is home to bald eagles, is to be blasted to make room for the CHPE.

The Rockland towns of Stony Point and Haverstraw already suffer significant stresses due to Super-storm Sandy damage, living by two active earthquake faults, living close to the Indian Point nuclear reactors, and battles over the desalination project, the “bomb trains,” and the 42-inch Spectra pipeline. The CHPE will either reduce their home or business equity or take their property.

Like the Keystone XL, the CHPE requires a presidential permit, which was issued on October 6. However, the Army Corps of Engineers has not yet issued a record of decision for the EIS.

The Rockland County towns and their politicians have been pressuring Governor Cuomo and other New York officials to call on President Obama to revoke the presidential permit for economic reasons as well as a number of shortcomings in the Department of Energy EIS process.

Frank R. Eadie chairs the New York City Group’s Energy Committee.

What you can do

Please contact your elected officials today, and tell them to take measures to revoke the CHPE Presidential Permit PP#362 immediately.

• President Obama:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

• US Department of State Secretary Bob Kerry: www.contact-us.state.gov

• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:  www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/ 

• Senator Chuck Schumer:  www.schumer.senate.gov/Contact/contact_chuck.cfm

• Congresswoman Nita Lowey:  https://lowey.house.gov/contact-form

• Governor Andrew Cuomo:  http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php (or call 1-518-474-8390)

• New York Public Service Commission:  secretary@dps.ny.gov (or call 1-800-335-2120)