State backs farm family in electric grid fight

[hrmjustin]

Scott Waldman
ALBANY—The state Department of Agriculture and Markets has determined that a proposal by a Spanish utility giant to construct electric grid infrastructure in the middle of a fourth-generation family farm near Rochester did not adequately account for the agricultural impact of the project.

That determination, made after the Krenzer family asked the state to reconsider the proposal, could delay part of a $250 million project regulators say is essential to meet the growing power demand of the Rochester area and head off looming shortages. In documents related to the case, agriculture department lawyer Diane Smith said the state Public Service Commission failed to account for the fact that the project would reduce the productivity of hundreds of acres of the Krenzer family's 600-acre vegetable farm.

“The evidence adduced in the reopened phase of this proceeding has revealed that the certificated site and route would have a much greater impact on agricultural resources than the P.S.C. acknowledged when it granted the certificate,” Smith wrote.

For more than a year, the Krenzer family has been fighting plans by Rochester Gas & Electric, a subsidiary of Spain's Iberdrola utility, to build an 11-acre electric substation and access roads in the middle of their farm, which is located in the town of Chili. Construction would include transmission lines along the property.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/08/8550198/state-backs-farm-family-electric-grid-fight?top-featured-3