MASSENA -- The Local Government Task Force wants to meet with New York Power Authority officials to discuss inequities in a 2002 settlement as it comes up for its scheduled review.

The settlement was designed to compensate communities along the St. Lawrence River for the loss of economic development caused by the St. Lawrence-FDR Project, which allowed NYPA to claim waterfront properties and establish a hydro-generation dam.

Affected communities include Massena, Waddington, Louisville and Lisbon.

In a letter to NYPA, Task Force Chairman and Massena Town Supervisor Joe Gray said the review is scheduled every 10 years to discuss issues that "were not anticipated at the time of relicensing such as the economic impact of the loss of major industrial customers, a comparative review of costs and benefits provided to local communities by other NYPA facilities, water flows, and any other unanticipated event or condition.”

In his letter Gray says both unanticipated events and occurrences and those events that specifically were identified as factors to be considered in the 10-year review "unequivocally support a modification of the Agreement in a manner that more accurately reflects the impacts of the St. Lawrence-FDR Project on the Task Force members and its citizens."

Gray said the task force also hopes establish an agreement that is comparable to the settlement in Western New York,

"Moreover, the Task Force maintains that such a modification must equate with the level of local support, including economic development, tourism and the supply of low cost power that the Power Authority provides to other communities in western New York and throughout the State," Gray said in the letter.

Gray called for a meeting on or after Oct. 15.

"We look forward to a meaningful and fruitful process that will allow both sides to complete the 10-year review in a timely manner and with a resolution of issues that is satisfactory to both The Task Force and the Power Authority."