Mohawks make deal for power

MASSENA, NEW YORK - The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and National Grid have put differences aside to ensure some residences without electrical service get power for their homes before the chill of winter arrives.

"We approached each other knowing that winter is coming up," National Grid spokesman Stephen F. Brady said about the interim agreement that was hashed out during the past two months.

During the past year, the tribe and National Grid, formerly Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., have been negotiating a new Global Service Agreement to replace the existing one, approved in 1949, because both sides are dissatisfied with it.

The tribe announced during a Tribal Council meeting Nov. 5 the approval of an interim agreement that will allow residences without power to apply for it.

"With winter quickly approaching, we needed to look at how we could get individual households hooked up," tribal spokesman Brendan F. White said.

Exactly how many homes will get service is unclear. Mr. White said as many as 20 could be connected. Mr. Brady said that while National Grid expects to receive at least two dozen applications, they cannot predict how many more residences will fit into the reservation's power capacity.

"It will depend on what the customers are doing once they're hooked up," he said.

The less power used by new customers, the more residents will be added. Connecting them will be a slow process, he said, to ensure use on the reservation does not exceed capacity.

Prior to the announcement, National Grid had refused to hook up any new customers until a new service agreement was finished. This interim agreement does not include businesses without power, many of which are now using generators.

Negotiations are stalled until the tribe completes a review of its future energy needs, which Mr. Brady said National Grid was told would be complete by mid-December. In the past, the tribe has said it was also waiting for its land-claim agreement to be approved by the state Legislature. In addition to adding land to its territory, the agreement would also entitle the tribe to nine megawatts of electricity from the New York Power Authority.

The interim agreement with National Grid follows many of the same guidelines set in the 1949 Global Service Agreement. Mr. Brady said the two sides have still not come to a consensus on the three main issues, which are access and use of reservation land to install service equipment, ownership rights of the equipment and the negotiation of electrical rates.