APRIL 3, 2009: State Senator John Bonacic (R/I/C – Mt. Hope) reacted to NYRI’s being withdrawn today as follows: “ONE WORD: VICTORY! All of the people across the region who came together to fight NYRI are winners. Without the regional unity, this win would not have been possible.”
After NYRI was proposed, Senator Bonacic took the following steps to combat the project:
1. Secured $50,000 in State funding for the Upper Delaware Council to fight NYRI.
2. Successfully called for FERC Commissioner Marc Spitzer to abstain from considering NYRI after Spitzer called NYRI a “no brainer” before being sworn in as a Commissioner.
3. Secured $1 million in State aid for a war chest to fight NYRI.
4. Sponsored the legislation which denied NYRI the ability to use eminent domain in the siting of its transmission towers and lines.
Senator Bonacic was sued in Federal Court by NYRI over the eminent domain legislation he authored. NYRI lost. “I want to thank Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for defending me in Federal Court when NYRI sued me. The Attorney General did a great job defending the constitutionality of my legislation and I appreciate his efforts.”
“Raising electric rates upstate to lower them downstate, as NYRI proposed is just bad public policy. Blighting the Catskills to light up Manhattan was unfair. Today, those threats go away. For all the problems that exist in the world, today is a day for those in our region who were threatened by this project to celebrate. VICTORY – FOR ALL THE PEOPLE.”
