Transmission line developer agrees to pay ferry owner more than $100,000 in dispute over planned electric cable installation
By Zachary Matson
The developer of a 339-mile-long transmission line and the operator of the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry settled a dispute over potential disruption to the ferry business during the installation of electric cables at the bottom of Lake Champlain this summer.
Jack Doyle, who operates the ferry as 1759 Ltd., had sued CHPE, the transmission developer, to prevent potential business disruption. But the parties submitted a May 30 settlement agreement outlining how the developer would access lake bottom near the ferry and compensate Doyle’s business.
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
CHPE will pay the ferry operator $100,000 once the transmission cables are installed, as well as $10,000 to purchase spare ferry cables and $5,000 each day the ferry is out of service. CHPE also agreed to conduct debris removal work at night, which must occur before the transmission cables are buried at the lakebed, raising its costs by an estimated $160,000.
The ferry relies on a pair of submerged guidance cables that lead the ferry from one side of the lake to the other near the historic fort. That service would be disrupted when CHPE clears its cable path of debris and later installs its cables.
Doyle and CHPE construction managers met Monday to discuss the logistics of working in the ferry corridor. “I think we’ve got a good plan,” Doyle said. “I think it’s workable, I think the community will be happy.”
When Doyle’s lawyers filed for an injunction preventing CHPE from preparing or installing its cables near the ferry operation, CHPE’s lawyers argued that the injunction sought would cost the developer up to $14 million.
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
In a statement Monday, a CHPE spokesperson said the “settlement was in line with reasonable expectations” and that the lawsuit brought by Doyle “did not significantly impact the outcome.”
The Lake Champlain portion is part of the Champlain Hudson Power Express project, a transmission line that will send electricity from Hydro-Quebec’s sprawling portfolio of dams and reservoirs to power-hungry New York City, enough energy to meet about one-fifth of the city’s estimated 2026 electricity needs.
The project, backed by Blackstone Group, one of the world’s richest private equity firms, is expected to start transporting electricity in 2026.
The Public Service Commission in April approved construction plans for the line’s 97-mile-long Lake Champlain segment, and CHPE planned to begin laying and burying a pair of electrical cables and a fiber optic cable on the lakebed this month at Rouses Point.
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
Installation is scheduled to finish in October at Putnam Station, where the power line exits the lake and begins its underground path through the Capital Region.
The lake’s other ferry services, which don’t use cable guidance, are not expecting delays from CHPE’s cable installation.
“The CHPE project team works with all stakeholders along our 339-mile route to establish agreements related to project installation that will allow for project construction while minimizing stakeholder impacts,” the spokesperson said.
Top photo: A special cable-laying barge is being built at Wilcox Dock in Plattsburgh to install nearly 97 miles of electrical cable in Lake Champlain this summer. Photo by Melissa Hart
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
Water quality updates
Sign up for the “Water Line” newsletter, with weekly updates about pollution, climate change and development’s impacts on the Adirondacks’ lakes, rivers and streams.
Leave a Reply