CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

DRYDEN — NYSEG will hold a public information session on the status of its Ithaca Transmission Project from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 29 at the Neptune Hose Company on Route 13 in Dryden.

The project is designed to lessen NYSEG's dependency on the AES Cayuga coal-fired generating plant in the Town of Lansing on high electricity-demand days.

“This project will reinforce our Ithaca-area electricity delivery system and will eliminate the existing dependence on local generation to ensure reliable service,” said Keith Lorenzetti, NYSEG's director-regional operations, in a press release.

Through early summer, URS Corporation, a NYSEG contractor, is gathering information to develop construction plans for the project. URS' work on NYSEG rights of way includes engineering and environmental studies by specialists in engineering, forestry, agriculture, land use, wildlife biology and archeology. These specialists will determine the location of transmission structures and work areas, and recommend ways to minimize environmental impacts during construction. After these studies are complete, NYSEG will prepare an Environmental Management and Construction Plan that will be submitted to the PSC by July 15.

The Ithaca Transmission Project includes the construction of a 345-kilovolt to 115-kilovolt substation near the site of an existing NYSEG switching station in the Town of Lapeer in Cortland County; the construction of a 15-mile, 115-kilovolt electric transmission line from NYSEG's Etna Substation in the Town of Dryden in Tompkins County to the new Lapeer substation; and rebuilding NYSEG's 115-kilovolt line between the Etna Substation and the new Lapeer Substation. The project also includes modifications to NYSEG's Etna Substation to accommodate the connection of the new 115-kilovolt line.

Related activities such as surveying, design and acquisition of rights of way are planned for this year. Substation work is expected to begin later this year, and construction of the remainder of the project is scheduled to begin in 2009. The project is expected to be completed by mid-2010.