What will construction of the Champlain Hudson Power Express mean for Rockland?

STONY POINT ‒ Dozens of residents, including many local business owners, had plenty of questions for officials of the Champlain Hudson Power Express, a transmission line that will carry hydropower from Canada to NYC and traverse Rockland along the way.

When will it be built? How will businesses along the Route 9W corridor be disrupted during the 22-month-long construction window? What's in it for Rockland County, which is simply a pass-through for the line that will pour the power to a station in Queens?

George Potanovic, who was among community members who requested the Tuesday meeting with CHPE, said he had hoped for a more formal presentation about the transmission line and its impact in Rockland.

"In one way it's a good thing," Potanovic, president of Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment, said of the project that brings renewable energy to under-powered NYC. "But the communities that are affected shouldn't be run over either. They should be informed."

Officials pivot as questions pour in

The meeting at Patriot Hills Senior & Community Center was planned as an Open House. That format would allow individuals to look at maps, chat with CHPE team members one-on-one and get their questions quickly answered.

But questions came fast for CHPE staff. And a cacophony rose of frustrated voices who couldn't seem to find the right person to answer their specific question.

At the encouragement of many in the crowd, the CHPE team switched to giving an overview and then holding a Q&A with the audience. After CHPE vice president of external affairs Jennifer Laird-White gave an overview of the project, she asked for audience input.

There was no shortage of questions.

The path for Champlain Hudson's hydropower line

The 339-mile cable will carry hydropower-generated electricity from Canada to Queens for use in NYC. The $6 billion project is expected to be complete in spring 2026.

The line crosses land and water at various points.

In the Hudson Valley, CHPE emerges from the Hudson in Stony Point and runs basically along Route 9W, until it goes back into the river in Congers. This avoids Haverstraw Bay, a sensitive sturgeon habitat.

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While a portion of the line-laying work is expected to start within four weeks, the entire timetable in Rockland is still not locked up. There are remaining issues to be ironed out, including working with some property owners to gain access.

The power line is being developed by Transmission Developers, Inc.

Business owners worry about impact on traffic

Penguin Rep Theater's artistic director, Joe Brancato, wondered about construction spelling long lane closures that would hamper patrons from getting to performances at the Cricketown Road playhouse.

According to CHPE officials, work would primarily Monday through Friday with limited weekend activity, and in two shifts, a morning and an afternoon-evening shift, largely scheduled to avoid the busiest traffic periods of the day.

The work, Nolan Mazur of the CHPE team said, would be for short periods in any one section; in other words, not all of 9W will be impacted for the duration the project.

Traffic disruptions in one section of north-south 9W could quickly create delays anywhere along the corridor.

Stony Point resident Bob Burns asked about benefits to Rockand's workforce and businesses. CHPE officials said that they were using local companies and suppliers and local unionized labor during the construction. The company also pays property taxes.

The towns have been given about $31 million total by CHPE for public-benefit funding, including for a streetscape fund.

Several business owners, though, pointed out that it was their livelihoods that would be disrupted when customers decided to go elsewhere rather than deal with traffic delays.

"What you're saying is you're coming into (here) for two years and businesses be damned," said Dan O'Kane, who owns a construction firm and Hudson's Mill Tavern at the Garner Arts Center in Garnerville.

Paul Weske, vice president of terrestrial construction for CHPE, put it plainly: "I'm not going to say we won't have an impact. We're digging in the road. We're going to have impact."

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland NY faces Route 9W traffic from Champlain Hudson line project