Why I Am Voting "NO"

I received my absentee ballot yesterday and was particularly interested in PROPOSAL NUMBER ONE: AN AMENDMENT that appears at the top of my absentee ballot and will appear above the offices you will vote for in the upcoming elections on November 3. It is an Amendment to the New York State Constitution, which to me is a big deal.

Here is the way it is presented –

Amendment to section 1 of article 14 of the Constitution, in relation to the use of certain forest preserve lands by National Grid to construct a 46 kV power line along State Route 56 in St. Lawrence County. The proposed amendment would authorize the Legislature to convey up to six acres of forest preserve land along State Route 56 in St. Lawrence County to National Grid for construction of a power line. In exchange, National Grid would convey to the State at least 10 acres of forest land in St. Lawrence County, to be incorporated into the forest preserve. The land to be conveyed by National Grid to the State must be at least equal in value to the land conveyed to National Grid by the State. Should the amendment be approved?

In case you're interested, section 1 of article 14 of the New York State Constitution reads,
"The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed."

I decided to do a little research on what will this amendment do if approved by the voters.

The “Forever Wild” clause of the NYS Constitution prohibits any development in the Adirondack Forest Preserve, including the building of power lines, unless the constitution is specifically amended to allow it. A constitutional amendment requires passage by two separately elected state Legislatures and then approval by the voters. This amendment has been passed unanimously by the Legislatures that took office in 2007 and 2009, and is now being presented to the voters on the November 2009 ballot.

But here's the biggie!

This amendment will make constitutional an action that has, in fact, already taken place.

The building of a back-up power line through forest preserve land was approved by the NY Power Authority (NYPA), the largest state-owned power organization in the USA, that sells power to government agencies, to community-owned electric systems and rural electric cooperatives, to job-producing companies, to private utilities for resale—without profit—to their customers, and to neighboring states, under federal requirements. http://www.nypa.gov/

It was approved allegedly with the involvement and agreement of the interested environmental and municipal groups to protect the health and safety of the residents of the Village of Tupper Lake. The line was built and activated in May of 2009.

Before this new power line was built, the Village of Tupper Lake had frequent power outages caused by damage to its single electrical supply line, principally from falling tree limbs in forested land along its route. There was no back-up line in the event of power failure, and during the winter alternative shelter had to be provided to village residents. This was considered an urgent situation that could not wait for the completion of the constitutional amendment process for relief, since it affected the health and safety of the villagers.

According to the NY Power Authority, the most environmentally friendly route for the new line went through two miles of Adirondack Forest Preserve land. The new line could have been detoured to avoid forest preserve land, but the detour, according to the NYPA report, would have involved a six mile cut through old-growth undeveloped forest and wetlands, endangering the habitat of wildlife. The chosen route along an existing road through previously cleared preserve land was judged more ecologically friendly.

National Grid will compensate for the loss of existing preserve land by conveying at least 10 acres of land to the State. According to the PROPOSAL, this new land must be of equal or greater value than the land that was lost. According to the NYPA report, environmental and civic organizations are supportive of this remedy to what was a serious and persistent public health and safety issue. The report goes on to say that since the amendment is specific to this situation, it does not give broader constitutional permission to other such solutions; each would require another constitutional amendment.

I don't disagree with providing service that will promote the health and safety of the villagers of Tupper Lake. I do have a problem with amending our State Constitution to give land to National Grid even if they will give back equivalent property.

The argument that this does not give broader constitutional permission to other such solutions because each would require another constitutional amendment doesn't work for me either. First, the Legislature rammed this through without an announcement to the voters until now. Second, it sets a precedent for such action. Of course we all know and love National Grid, a foreign-owned company that gets every rate increase approved by the NY State government. I'm sure we would have no problem with the Legislature giving them, or some other large corporation with deep pockets and a non-environmental agenda, any parcel of our precious forest lands without giving the voters their say on such action until after it was already completed.

I vote "NO" because I disagree with the methods used in this transaction. I vote "NO" because I don't trust a Legislature that kowtows to National Grid and I definitely do not trust National Grid. I vote "NO" in principal because the voters in NY State were an afterthought when their Constitution was being amended to serve a giant corporation.

I have lots of questions.

Could we have solved this "persistent problem" without amending the Constitution? It sounds like we could have by fixing the problem with the current line, but now we will never know.

What are the names of the environmental and civic organizations that supposedly supported this "remedy"?

The new line could have been detoured to avoid forest preserve land but was supposedly sent through this area because it was "more ecologically friendly". Who determined that? Someone from NYPA or National Grid? Don't they think the citizens of New York State might have been interested in reading such a report before we allowed our forest lands to be "taken by any corporation, public or private"?

What's going to happen on election day?

Most people won't even read this proposal or vote on it. If they do read it, it will be a quick read in the voting booth and then they may or may not vote on it based on a snap decision with little or no information. It certainly sounds benign the way it is presented, and nowhere in the proposal does it tell the voter that it's already a done deal.

I'm sure the State and National Grid are counting on almost no participation by the voter in the venerated process of amending our State Constitution. I hope this blog gets circulated around the State and at least a few voters question this convoluted process.

I will vote "NO" if for no other reason than to see what happens if the voters do turn the proposal down. What recourse do NY State, the NY Power Authority, and National Grid have at that point? If we rally and vote "NO", I will definitely keep up the quest to find out.

Resources:
http://www.adirondack-park.net/history/article14-text.html
http://kingstonnavigator.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/november-general-elections-amendment-proposals-citizens-need-to-know/