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Massena Town Council, Waddington Village Board ratify controversial NYPA proposal, giving it enough okays to be finalized

Posted 1/22/15

By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- With the Massena Town Council and Waddington Village Board ratifying the proposed New York Power Authority 10-year license review proposal, it has enough okays to be …

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Massena Town Council, Waddington Village Board ratify controversial NYPA proposal, giving it enough okays to be finalized

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- With the Massena Town Council and Waddington Village Board ratifying the proposed New York Power Authority 10-year license review proposal, it has enough okays to be finalized.

The final vote will come from the NYPA board.

Waddington unanimously approved the deal. Massena’s officials all voted yes, except Councilman Samuel Carbone. He abstained from voting, citing his employment with NYPA.

The deal is to bring to a close the review of the 2002 St. Lawrence FDR relicensing agreement between the village and town of Massena, the Massena Central School District, municipalities in Waddington and Louisville, St. Lawrence County and NYPA.

Massena’s approval came after a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons, most of which seemed to be dedicated to the cons.

Massena Town Supervisor Joseph Gray went on a tirade prior to voting yes. He also chairs the Local Government Task Force, which is made up of local elected officials and negotiated the review with NYPA.

He said he was responding to a letter to the editor from NYPA President Gil Quinones praising the power authority and justifying a disparity with their license to operate a power dam in western New York that appeared in a recent edition of the Daily Courier-Observer. Gray said NYPA has a history of lying to the North Country and going back on promises.

“They have a 60-year history of lying to people,” Gray said. He pointed to a promise NYPA made when the authority was created that they would lease their shoreline property to private businesses.

“It never happened,” according to Gray.

He said he’s been led to believe that NYPA may not be the ones pushing what many local leaders see as an unfair deal.

He said John Sulloway, NYPA’s negotiator, told the LGTF he was taking orders from “the second floor,” referring to the governor’s office.

“Governor Cuomo and Quinones should hang their heads in shame,” Gray said. “They have raped our river, in my opinion, and they’ve taken advantage of our communities.”

Councilmen John Macaulay and Albert Nicola took the opposing view.

Macaulay pointed to economic benefits NYPA has brought to the area, including attracting Alcoa the former Reynolds and General Motors plants.

“All of that came about as part of the power being brought to the North Country. We can’t forget what’s been put into this community by the presence of that dam,” he said.

He also chastised those that criticized the original 2002 relicensing agreement as inadequate.

“Everyone that’s out there … hasn’t had to sit down at that negotiating table with NYPA,” he said.

Nicola noted that even if a majority of the communities represented by the LGTF turn down the deal, there isn’t much of an alternative short of a costly lawsuit.

“The negative parts are brought out. But what are the alternatives? What can we do?” he said.

He pointed to the language of the 2002 relicensing that says the talks today are not to hack out an entire new deal, just to ensure NYPA has been following its end from 10 years ago.

“Did the power authority do what it said would do in the license agreement? This is not a renegotiation. That’s what it’s for,” he said.