NYSW Former President

Walter Rich was the former president of the New York Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYSW). He died August 9, 2007 (apparently from pancreatic cancer), and was a friend of Sherwood Boehlert. http://www.legacy.com/TimesUnion-Albany/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=92386126 & http://www.coopercrier.com/news/stories/2007/08/16/ccrich.html

Some thought Mr. Rich was a great businessman, but I'm not sure why. From what I could tell, he made a lot of money off the taxpayers for services not rendered--see "$400,000 For a Train that Never Came" http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/index.ssf?/base/news-12/11947752197340.xml&coll=1&thispage=1


Mr. Rich was also on the board of directors of Energy East http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104038&p=irol-govmanage and the chair of the corporate responsibility committee. (wonder when Energy East is going to update their web site?---their corporate board must not be very active). Energy East is the parent company of NYSEG, RG&E, CMP & others) http://www.energyeast.com/OurCompanies/default.html

Obvious to those of us living along the railroad track, train traffic was sparse and NYSW was not making money. Therefore, NYSW made a deal (PILOT program) w/ the County Industrial Development Agencies (IDA's) which went something like this----- The IDA's would own the railroad track; NYSW would lease the railroad for $1; NYSW would not pay taxes; and NYSW could buy the railroad back for $1. Even though the IDA's were (& are?) owners of the track, NYSW makes an agreement (option) w/ NYRI (&/or Pegasus-Niagara Reinforcement?) for property rights for a significant sum of money, which increases every year. Apparently the IDA's were not aware of the NYSW/NYRI agreement. The PILOT program officially expired in 2003, but unofficially, it appears that the PILOT program just continued on it's merry way until the NYRI project became public.

I'm fuzzy on the details, but I do know this. Walter Rich tells some of us that these types of utility options occur all the time; and most of the projects don't get built anyway. He thought the poles would only be about 40' tall, and he is going to talk to the NYRI folks and see if they can lower the poles.

A businessman like Mr. Rich didn't know the difference between a low-voltage line and a 190-mile lateral 400-kv HVDC line? He didn't know that the project would cost over $1 billion dollars? He thoughtlessly signed off on an agreement that would impact thousands?

Shame on you Mr. Rich. You weren't a very good neighbor.