NY Transco/ Con Ed
ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION

During the Planning Board's review of the project, we asked the these important questions, and raised the following concerns:

1. The Planning Board was urged by residents, experts and organizations to require an Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] to address the near-certain potential for negative impacts on the environment and the town as a whole. With the valid concerns raised an EIS should have been prepared.

2. The Planning Board was urged to recognize that their responsibilities to the town extend beyond what was “code,” or an “allowable use” - and they were asked to protect the town, its children, and its residents. For the concerned residents, the project is not “just a substation” but the tipping point where we draw the line on the industrial energy complex that is growing in our town.

3. Much of Dover, including the Transco site, is considered by the State, EPA, and DEC as areas of Environmental Justice concern and a Disadvantaged Community. We are an environmentally and financially disadvantaged, and disproportionally burdened by industrial energy projects and other environmental hazards (i.e. contaminated drinking water at our high and middle school)..

4. The Planning Board was asked to engage third-party, independent, and unbiased experts to review all submissions, reports, surveys, and studies. The residents can not rely on one-sided information or peer reviews where many inaccuracies and discrepancies had already been identified. They needed their own Hydrologists, Geologists, and Environmental Experts in order to take the required "hard look" under SEQR.

5. The Transco site is former automotive junkyard site that had never been remediated. It had been littered with debris, parts, drums, containers, and tires within wetlands, wetland buffers, and throughout the site. The residents had expressed concerns that construction activities that included blasting, drilling, and grading would impact the aquifer, private wells, and The Great Swamp which is immediately adjacent.

6. The Planning Board and residents had repeatedly asked Transco for Soil and Groundwater testing results for the site. When the report was finally received, Transco had included testing parameters and a map of locations tested, but no data results. When compared with 1970’s aerial images, it is clear that sample locations were taken from the few locations on the site that were not previously disturbed by junkyard operations. Accurate testing had been demanded by the residents as this could impact their water and our natural resources like the Great Swamp.

7. The Great Swamp and Dover, in general, are home to several endangered and threatened species. It is necessary to protect these species, and the unique biodiversity of the region.

8. Residents raised concerns about the impacts on the community character of the town and our property values. Transco had dismissed these concerns, and submitted a report that implied that homes with a view of a substation were worth more than those without a view of a substation.

9. Transco has also proposed to install transmission towers on the north side of Cricket Hill Road to connect to the Con Edison Right-of-Way. This is within the footprint of a former landfill, which is considered by NYS DEC as an Inactive Hazardous Waste site. No soil or groundwater testing or any analysis had been provided by the applicant on this site. In fact, this portion of the project area was not included in on-site plan drawings or plans that were submitted to the Town or other agencies.

10. Residents voiced concerns about the “segmented” utility development in our town that had to be considered cumulatively as part of an EIS. Transco had stated that their only connection to the other projects was “that they were in the same town.” It was simple to connect the dots between these projects - the common link between them was Con Edison and National Grid. Each of these industrial energy projects had paved the way for the next one.

11. Residents and the Planning Board asked Transco to bury the power lines under Cricket Hill Road. This would have avoided the need for 140-145’ towers on the project site. 

12. These power and utility infrastructure projects have a significant impact on the health and safety of residents, our property values, and the direction of future development in the Town - with no benefit to us.

13. We are concerned about the close proximity of NY Transco and these potential other projects to Dover High and Middle School within 1/2 mile. These are our children, our most precious asset, and we need to protect them.