John Hall: “I urge support of the Hinchey- Wolf amendment to force the DOE to take a time-out from its rush to subject giant…”

“I urge support of the Hinchey- Wolf amendment to force the DOE to take a time-out from its rush to subject giant stretches of this country to eminent domain for energy interests. In my State, in my district, the New York Regional Interconnect, for instance, NIRE, is an internationally financed private entity which will receive eminent domain rights to seize private land for private profit. It would remove the State environmental review process and all property rights and States rights from the equation and give that all to FERC. I think this is something that needs much closer examination. New York City, I would reassure my colleagues from downstate, does not need NIRE to have power, especially not this route. In fact, there are alternate routes that the State could and would look at if it had the time that it would normally have under CCRA. I urge support for the Hinchey-Wolf amendment in the interest of property rights and States rights. The Acting CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from Massachusetts rise as the designee of the gentleman from Indiana?”