Farm family wins long fight with RG&E
A Chili family that has fought plans for new electric transmission infrastructure they said would disrupt their farm, is poised to win their three-year tussle.
An amended resolution that settles the dispute between the Krenzer family and Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. has been endorsed by the family, the utility and others; and is on the agenda of the state Public Service Commission for final approval at its meeting Thursday.
If the commission agrees, the unusual David versus Goliath case will be resolved in favor of the Krenzers. The electrical substation that the family said would mar their Chili farmland now will be built in Henrietta, and transmission lines have been reconfigured to minimize the impact on their land as well.
"It was not an easy process for the Krenzer family to stand up for our rights for the preservation of our lands going back almost one hundred years," Marie Krenzer wrote in a letter of endorsement submitted to the PSC in July. "However, we as a family believed then and still believe now that the changes brought forth through the amendment are essential and necessary."
The dispute arose from RG&E's construction of the Rochester Area Reliability Project, a $254 million undertaking to enhance the supply of electricity to western Monroe County.
The plan required a new substation in the southern part of the county near the Genesee River, and RG&E chose the Krenzers' farm field in Chili as the best location for the substation. The plan also called for new transmission lines through the farm field.
The company wanted to acquire, through condemnation — the use of eminent domain laws — if necessary, about 80 acres of land for its work. The substation itself would have consumed 12 acres of farmland.
That property, located east of Scottsville Road, is part of a 670-acre farm operated by Dave and Marie Krenzer, members of a prominent farm family in that part of the county. The family grows wheat, corn and soybeans.
RG&E has argued that it duly notified the family in 2011 of its intent to build on its property. But the Krenzers countered that they weren't notified properly and didn't have any inkling of RG&E's plans until late 2012.
Arguing passionately that RG&E's infrastructure would greatly diminish their ability to farm that land, the family hired lawyers and other experts and filed formal objections with the PSC in May 2013. Their case drew support from numerous politicians, who held news conferences and called on regulators to press for a resolution.
The commission, which had approved the substation siting, withdrew that approval later in 2013 and began a long, drawn-out exploration of alternatives that involved numerous studies and public hearings. Final settlement talks began early this year and resulted in a settlement that now has been endorsed by RG&E, the family, the PSC staff, the two town governments, and state agencies with an interest in the case.
Henrietta site possible for RG&E substation
Under the settlement that the commission will consider Thursday, the substation would be built on undeveloped commercial land in Henrietta located between East River Road and the Genesee River. Neither of the two corporate owners of that property took part in the settlement discussions, according to documents filed with the PSC, but at least one of them has indicated a conditional willingness to sell the land to RG&E.
The transmission lines that head west from the substation will still impinge on Krenzer property in Chili, but the support towers have been redesigned and the route changed so the impact will be minimized.
Because the new substation site will damage or destroy several acres of protected wetlands, the law requires that other wetlands be created in mitigation. That will be done on 17 acres of the Krenzers' property in Chili that had been wooded before ash trees there became infested by emerald ash borers and had to be removed. RG&E will re-plant the area with native shrubs and trees.
Earlier in the proceeding, RG&E had argued for haste, saying the demand for more electricity was such that the reliability project needed to be completed soon.
But another transmission upgrade that RG&E hurriedly began constructing in the eastern suburbs after the Krenzer dispute arose has made the west-side reliability project less pressing, according to material submitted by the PSC staff.