Island Dispatch, 1991-07-12

              ISLAND DISPATCH Independence Day Road Race Complete results on page 16 Weather - THE OLD Clear and hot. July 17-19: Farmer's Almanac says: July Rain, seasonable. 12: Rain, cooler. July 13-16: SERVING THE GRAND ISLAND COMMUNITY SINCE 1944 With The GRAND ISLAND NEWS GRAND ISLAND, NY (7161 773-7676 24 PAGES VOL. 48 NO. 16 • July 12, 1991 50C .... Photo by Barbi Lam Horsing Around At Grand Island's 4th of July Parade For story and photos, see center pages. FERC & Canada Hold Opposing Views On Pipeline CANADIAN action on the Fourth of July signaled a possible victory for Grand Island in its fight to have a natural gas line cross the town. The Canadian National Energy Board Thursday, July 4, denied an application by Trans-Canada Pipeline Ltd. to build a 12-mile section of pipe from Thorold to the Niagara River. From there Empire State Pipeline had been planning to run it under the river to Grand Island. Empire further proposed to continue the line across the Island and under the East Branch of the Niagara to Wheatfield. Without Canadian permission to build the facility there, Empire apparently will have to abandon the plan that Grand Island has been fighting for the past two years; here in New York State as well as in Washington, D.C. The Public Service Commission in January approved the US part of the plan and just this past Wednesday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission added its approval contingent on a change of mind by the Canadian agency. The ruling was the result of a 3-2 vote. But without the CNE Board's approval of the Trans- Canada application to build the Canadian section, Empire's proposal to continue the line over to Grand Island and on to Syracuse appears doomed. News of the Canadian decision was greeted with expressions of relief by the Grand Island Citizens Against the Pipeline, Legislator Charles M. Swanick, and town officials who have been fighting the issue. However, the issue may not be dead as Empire officials will work to reverse last week's Canadian decision to bar TransCanada Pipeline from building a 12-mile line in southern Ontario from its main line to the Niagara River. Cravotta Resigns As School Supt. THE FOLLOWING letter was read by School Supt. Lee Cravotta at the special reorganization meeting of the board of education July 8: "During the past five years it has been my pleasure to serve (as superintendent). During that tenure a number of hurdles were overcome and Grand Island has risen to the point of excellence in its educational program. "Two of the major contributors to those realized successes have been a strong leadership on the part of the CONTINUED ON PACE 3