GlobalFoundries official says power line plan ‘absolutely’ needed

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

National Grid and GlobalFoundries say a new high-voltage power line between Rotterdam and Spier Falls is badly needed to increase Saratoga County’s electrical supply — but many people who live along the route aren’t happy about it.

At a public hearing Thursday night in Milton, several speakers slammed National Grid’s plan to build a second 115-kv line in an existing 33-mile power line corridor.

Some said they’d lose property value. Some cited the visual impacts of the second line while others said some of their land will be taken, and more trees would be cut in the right-of-way.

“This appears to be a short-term fix to meet the needs of GlobalFoundries,” said Angela Sheck of Greenfield. She said the woods next to her house would be cut down under the plan.

Sheck was among about a dozen speakers at a hearing held by the state Public Service Commission as part of an Article VII review. The PSC must issue an Article VII permit before the new power line can be built.

A second public meeting followed by a formal hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Scotia-Glenville High School.

Those testifying at Thursday’s hearing included adjoining landowners, recreation trail advocates urging their interests be considered and a GlobalFoundries official.

Mike Russo, GlobalFoundries director of U.S. government relations, said the $4.2 billion factory now under construction in Luther Forest will need 73 megawatts of power — roughly what 73,000 single-family homes would use. He also said the microchip manufacturing process requires an extremely steady and reliable power supply, not subject to interruptions or brownouts.

“This project is absolutely necessary,” Russo said.

The new line would run from the Spier Falls dam in Moreau to a major National Grid substation in Rotterdam, passing through parts of Moreau, Corinth, Greenfield, Milton, Ballston, Charlton, Glenville and Rotterdam. A new line would also be built from western Ballston to the Ballston Spa substation.

Mike King, National Grid’s project manager, said the Saratoga County area has the fastest-growing demand anywhere in National Grid’s service territory, even before GlobalFoundries is built.

The existing system performs marginally at times of high demand, he said, and its problems will become worse unless improvements are made.

The new line “will help us with our loading in the area, help us with our loading for GlobalFoundries,” King said.

Some speakers said the line could be placed underground, though that would be much more expensive for National Grid.

Company officials said National Grid expects to spend $66 million on the new line, whereas putting the line underground would cost an estimated $350 million.

One man suggested GlobalFoundries could pay the difference.

“GlobalFoundries seems to me to be the only party that really has an interest in building this line,” said Ralph Federiconi of Spier Falls Road. “It’s going to lower my property value.”

Ellen Laird of Charlton said the plan would widen the utility right-of-way to within 30 feet of the family house, and she noted there’s also a buried gas line in the right-of-way.

“We live so close it’s really scary,” the retiree said. “I believe it will be extremely dangerous, and our quality of life, especially at our age, will be lost.”

Thursday’s hearing was presided over by PSC Administrative Law Judge Eleanor Stein, who will hold evidentiary hearings if issues can’t be settled by negotiation by this fall. She also held a public hearing on the plan in May in Saratoga Springs.

National Grid hopes to get the PSC permit and be able to start work next spring. Building the new line is expected to take about 18 months.