U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is going to bat for the region.

On Tuesday, during a visit to Oneonta, Schumer told about 50 area constituents, including business and community leaders, that "we will somehow not allow NYRI to go through."

Such powerful words show welcomed determination by Schumer to protect the area from encroachment by the federal government.

Schumer, a Democrat in his second term, regularly has media conferences about how national issues, such as health care and housing foreclosures, are having an impact locally. But his visits to the area, and other counties in the state, are important avenues of contact for localities to emphasize more-specific issues and needs.

For this area, those issues include the proposed New York Regional Interconnect transmission line, dredging in the Susquehanna River and other flood-prevention measures, economic development and property taxes.

During his discussion with constituents on the campus of the State University College at Oneonta, Schumer said he wants the Department of Energy to have a hearing in Binghamton or Utica on the issue of proposed national-interest electric-transmission line corridors. A corridor on the East Coast would run from New York state to Virginia. If approved by the DOE, the federal government would be able to allow transmission lines, even over objections of state regulators. NYRI’s proposal is under review by the state.

The DOE had a hearing in New York City and announced plans for one in Rochester but it has refused to schedule one in the area, a decision we have steadfastly opposed.

Earlier this month, Schumer called Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to demand the Department of Energy immediately schedule public hearings on the proposed transmission corridor in communities that would be affected.

Schumer also showed commitment Tuesday to seeing flood-prevention programs delivered and developed in the area.

The Water Resources Development Act of 2007 includes $30 million for study and implementation of improvements to rivers in the bill, and Schumer said he would see that funds are directed to the Susquehanna River. The Senate and House are working to resolve difference in their versions.

This is good news, considering the approaching anniversary of last year’s flooding in the area and the city of Oneonta’s longtime effort to get help from the federal government for dredging in the Susquehanna.

Tuesday’s meeting was friendly and marked with humor but the light tone didn’t obscure Schumer’s effort to listen to constituents on their home turf and work toward cracking the bureaucracy of Washington.

We feel heard, and we are rooting for Schumer to help score home runs for the area.