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BUSINESS
NYRI ordered to release papers
Documents detail payments for company use of rail line
By Tory N. Parrish
Gannett News Service
New York Regional Interconnect cannot block release of documents
detailing its payments for use of a railway line running through
Oneida County, a state Supreme Court justice ruled Wednesday.
The power-line company failed to prove that disclosure of option-fee
agreements would harm it competitively, Judge James C. Tormey wrote in
a 19-page decision that the Utica Observer-Dispatch's attorney hailed
as a "win for open government." The O-D is owned by Gannett, which
also owns the Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Tormey's decision means details of New York Regional Interconnect's
lease agreement with New York Susquehanna and Western Railway Corp.
could become public this spring, said O-D attorney Michael Grygiel, a
partner with Hiscock & Barclay.
New York Regional Interconnect attorney James J. Barriere, of the
Albany-based law firm Couch White, had no comment. It was unclear if
the power-line company or railway would appeal.
Tormey's ruling came as good news to opponents of the power line that
would run from Marcy to Orange County, bisecting South Utica, New
Hartford and Sauquoit Creek Valley communities.
"I think that is an excellent ruling because I really do feel that the
public needs to know what's going on there," said Mike Steiger of
Cassville, a member of the power-line opposition group Upstate New
York Citizens Alliance.
"And I hope that the newspaper will gain access to those documents and
print as much of it as possible," Steiger said. "Everyone needs to be
open about what's going on."
The case began when the Observer-Dispatch submitted a state Freedom of
Information Law request in October to the Oneida County Industrial
Development Agency seeking copies of the railway's application to
renew a tax-relief deal. Part of that application included a Nov. 21,
2003, lease agreement between the power-line company and the railway,
which had agreed to lease portions of its land for construction of a
power line along the rail line.
New York Regional Interconnect sued to block the lease agreement's
release to the newspaper, alleging that the option-fee payments in the
agreement are trade secrets.