Preservation League Begins Work on "Citizens' Guide" to Public Service Commission Review Process

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Sawyer Cresap

ALBANY, NY (06/03/2014)(readMedia)-- The Preservation League recently secured a grant of $5,000 from the Open Space Institute to create a grassroots guide to the Public Service Commission electrical transmission siting review process.

In honor of Barney McHenry's contributions and accomplishments, the Open Space Institute has established and administers an award to celebrate his leadership and foster future leaders in the Hudson River Valley. The annual award provides financial support to promising young leaders and exemplary projects that make significant contributions to environmental protection, historic preservation, tourism, and the arts in the Hudson River Valley.

As the winner of the Fellowship in the historic preservation category, Sawyer Cresap, a junior at Syracuse University, will work with the Preservation League of New York State to publish a grassroots guide to public participation in Public Service Commission reviews, with an emphasis on the role that historic and cultural resources play in the process.

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) is currently reviewing proposals from four developers to erect towering new 345 kv transmission lines to provide electricity to downstate markets. Communities in 18 counties in central and eastern New York face potential industrialization of their rural landscapes and threats of eminent domain. The richly historic Hudson River Valley, where the developers propose to site new lines, is at the heart of this transmission siting challenge.

"Central and eastern New York State are facing the largest electrical transmission build-out in several decades, and the League has seen that advocacy for historic resources and landscapes can directly influence utility siting decisions," said Daniel Mackay, the Preservation League's Director of Public Policy. "The PSC review process is complex and highly technical, which discourages participation. The focus of Sawyer's work will be to develop a compilation of real world case studies that illustrate best practices for participating in the siting process at the community level."

Ms. Cresap is a 2012 graduate of the Voorheesville Central School District, and is working toward a double major in Political Science and Policy Studies, with an emphasis on environmental policy.

A second Albany not-for-profit has also received a McHenry Fellowship. Ben Himmelfarb, the winner in the field of tourism and a graduate student at SUNY Albany, will work with the Shaker Heritage Society to develop a Heritage Tourism plan as part of Partners for Albany Stories (PASt). The Shaker Heritage Society received a $3,000 Technical Assistance Grant from the Preservation League in 2012 to support the cost of an engineering and structural analysis for a building at their 770-acre Historic District in Colonie.

For more information on the Preservation League, please call 518-462-5658 or visit the League's website at www.preservenys.org.