State officials celebrate completion of CHPE pipeline project; North Rockland businesses decry it
David Cho, owner of Stony Point Bagels on Route 9W, said he has had to cut his entire staff to blunt revenue losses brought on by construction of the Champlain Power Express hydropower pipeline.
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New York State officials are celebrating the completion of a pipeline that's going to bring hydropower from Canada to New York City, where it will power a million homes.
But there are some who are not celebrating the project. Several business owners said Friday that the pipeline project decimated the Stony Point business community.
David Cho, owner of Stony Point Bagels on Route 9W, said he has had to cut his entire staff to blunt revenue losses brought on by construction of the Champlain Power Express hydropower pipeline.
"I have my wife and me. That's it," Cho said of his workforce.
It blocked the bagel shop from its customers for most of last year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul sent out a press release this week celebrating the project's completion. She said that because of the pipeline, "New York will remain a national clean energy leader into the future," and did not mention the hardship on local businesses.
Cho, who will not directly benefit from the pipeline, is not celebrating.
"Everything's day-by-day," he said. "You can't predict anything. Our revenue is down, like 30%, probably 40%."
CHPE contractors agreed last month to provide $1 million in relief funds for businesses trying to recover from the hits they took because of construction.
The North Rockland Chamber of Commerce tallied losses of at least $13 million among 112 businesses and at least 10 business closures.
Chamber Vice President Mari Rodriguez said $1 million should be considered a start, not a final figure.
"Yes, that's great Queens has power," she said, "but the result was tearing up a community and businesses, and leaving them still not close to a phase of recovery."
Rodriguez said that if all 112 affected businesses apply for relief funds, each one might receive enough for a month's rent, though most businesses reported tens of thousands in losses.
She also told News 12 the application process was supposed to begin this week, but CHPE and the local non-profits who will vet the applicants are running behind.
At Rock's Kitchen, the husband and wife owners have cut staff and dug into personal funds to stay alive.
"I ended up having to pull [money] out of my own personal retirement fund.to end up keeping us afloat," owner Rocky Alexander said. "I hope they're happy and satisfied with what they've done to this community. It has decimated our area."
News 12 reached out to a CHPE spokesperson to find out when the application process for the relief funds will start and for a reaction to some of the sentiments News 12 included in this story. As of Friday afternoon, those messages had not been returned.
