“Recently, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to spur economic recovery through public works projects. He listed renovation of LaGuardia Airport in Queens, rebuilding Penn Station in New York City, and building transmission lines from Western New York to New York City, allowing wind and solar energy generated upstate to be sent downstate.
All of these projects are focused on New York City, the governor’s hometown.
The inclusion of upstate renewables shows Cuomo forcing upstate, with its 90 percent zero emissions electricity, to shoulder the burden of producing and transmitting energy downstate.
The governor has admitted the infrastructure is not in place to transmit this power to New York City. It will be years before transmission lines can be built. Local opposition to transmission and additional industrial renewable projects will be intense.
Every tree that is cut down, every property that is devalued, every bird that is killed as a result of these projects is for the benefit of his hometown. Every rural community torn apart by this controversy will suffer.”
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Atwater, Pamela. Albany Times Union 25 June 2020.