Byline: ELIZABETH BENJAMIN Capitol bureau
As the state teeters on the edge of an energy crisis, a new company is looking to send power from Albany County to New York City in one of the largest transmission projects of its kind.
Conjunction LLC's plan is getting attention at the state Capitol not only because of the amount of energy it would move, but because its unique design may defuse aesthetic, health and environmental concerns that typically fuel the opposition to such proposals.
Experts say transporting power to where it's needed is just as difficult -- if not more so -- as siting a new power plant. While plants have a few neighbors, a power line can cross thousands of properties, generating thousands of opponents.
Steven Mitnick, a principal in Conjunction, thinks he has a solution.
Mitnick wants to run a double power line alongside the train tracks from just outside Albany into Manhattan, using existing railroad rights of way. He plans to bury the cables along about one-third of the 140-mile route, aiming to head off opponents who believe power lines mar the landscape.
If he succeeds, Mitnick claims, the $750 million project dubbed the Empire Connection will be the longest underground cable system …
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