National Grid reset needed

“National Grid reset needed.”

To The Editor,

She:kon. The announcement that National Grid will resume electrical utility disconnections on the southern portion of Akwesasne has to be met with concern. I heard that over 300 residences are affected and 40 businesses.

Looking back to the possibility that the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council would start their own electrical utility, nothing more seems to have been done in that regard despite voters approving that project. The cost of doing so was reduced by waiting a certain period of time for equipment depreciation. It seems like even that time has now passed.

National Grid was never before able to employ tribal law enforcement to “ride shotgun” as they used to say in the movies, before that vote took place. Had voters known that they might be approving National Grid to be protected in these cases, I doubt the project would have passed.

The Tribal Council should do the right thing and terminate any and all agreements with National Grid that allow this practice to continue. Instead of paying possibly the highest amounts for electricity in the National Grid eastern region, Akwesasronon should instead be compensated for the power generated in their waters. That is the major disconnection, in my own opinion.

Zeroing out any account balances older than when the vote was held would be a good restart. The company is rich beyond belief. The comments by the National Grid workers in videos that I have seen taken during shutoffs reflect an indifference to the larger view of this matter as a regional problem.

I sense that this issue is politically right behind land reclamation itself. The misuse of the waters of Akwesasne is the second greatest upheaval locally since the 1492 Encounter. The Seaway power project was dropped onto then-tribal leadership, several of whom signed the letter “X” where a signature was required to bring electrical power here. It is not only evidence of coercion, it is outrageous. Sken:nen.

Chaz Kader