https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NYPA-will-flood-Blenheim-and-Gilboa-with-money-12753735.php
NYPA will flood Blenheim and Gilboa with money
Payments as part of relicensing application for power plant
Updated 6:48 pm, Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Albany
Gilboa and Blenheim are about to be flush. More to the point, the Schoharie County towns will be getting long-term payments worth at least $50 million over the next 50 years starting in 2019.
“Are we happy? Yes,” said Blenheim Supervisor Donald Airey. “It’s a game changer.”
The payments, which should increase over time, will go a long way in his town of 392 people.
Town roads and the equipment to maintain them will be updated, and they’ll be able to outfit a new Town Hall that replace the one severely damaged by flooding during Tropical Storm Irene. Eventually, Blenheim may be able to do away with its admittedly modest town property tax.
The money will come from the New York Power Authority, which operates the 1,100 megawatt Blenheim-Gilboa power project which is along Schoharie Creek.
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Based on a pair of reservoirs, water from one is pumped uphill to the other and then released through turbines when power is needed.
The plant will be 50 years old in 2019 which means that NYPA is working on getting a new 50-year license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that oversees such facilities.
The payments are included in NYPA’s application for relicensing.
Overall, NYPA is offering more than $70 million in benefits to the area. Along with the payments, there will be improvements to the nearby Mine Kill State Park, fish habitat enhancements and new stream gauges for Schoharie Creek.
“These agreements mark a significant milestone in the negotiation of a new 50-year federal license,” NYPA President and CEO Gil. C. Quiniones said in a prepared statement.
Not everyone is thrilled. The agreement has some local officials feeling high and dry.
“It’s just disappointing,” said Chris Tague, Schoharie town supervisor. He said he believes Schoharie County should be getting some payments as well.
“I think what they were doing was divide and conquer,” he said of NYPA. He added that some towns negotiated with NYPA separately from a countywide flood-control panel that has also kept watch over the project.
“Why is Schoharie County County being treated so badly?” asked Earl Van Warmer, supervisor of Esperance, which is further downstream.
He said some county officials are considering reaching out to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and they’ve already contacted U.S. Rep John Faso who represents the area in Congress as well as fellow GOP state Sen. Jim Seward.
NYPA pointed out that it has been in confidential settlement talks with the county for several years but no agreement has been reached.
Certainly the existence of reservoirs has concerned county residents, given the flood-prone nature of Schoharie Creek.
More than the NYPA reservoirs, though, people have long worried about the much larger, nearby Schoharie Reservoir, which is part of New York City’s water supply.
Residents as well as lawmakers all the way along Schoharie Creek and even along the Mohawk River clear into Schenectady and Cohoes some 70 miles away have voiced concerns about what could happen if that dam were to be breached.
rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758
