Editorial: Energy plan must consider whole state
Submitted by Master Admin on Fri, 04/25/2008 - 2:02pm.
Threats to the Catskills
UTICA OBSERVER DISPATCH
Observer-Dispatch
The executive order issued last week by Gov. David Paterson to create a comprehensive state energy plan is long overdue and needs input from all localities so that the resulting policy doesn’t pit one part of the state against another.
Instead, the resulting plan should carefully assess the state’s future energy needs and determine the best way to meet those needs with the least negative impact on the people.
Paterson ordered the establishment of a state energy planning board to work on such a plan, which has been lacking since the old policy expired Jan. 1, 2003. The policy was restructured in 1998, when utilities were required to sell off their generation facilities and a wholesale competitive market for electricity was created. Prior to that, investor-owned utilities had owned electricity generation plants and transmission lines and distributed energy to customers.
The state has been without an official energy policy since one expired Jan. 1, 2003. The lack of policy is one reason why some upstate communities now face a threat from the power line being proposed by New York Regional Interconnect. The proposed 1,200-megawatt line would run from Marcy to Orange County and would cut through the very heart of this region.
Paul DeCotis, state Deputy Secretary for Energy and the chairman of the new planning board, said any future policy would not have a direct effect on NYRI’s proposal, which already has been filed with the state Public Service Commission. Mike Steiger of the NYRI opposition group Upstate New York Citizens Alliance believes the PSC will deny the application, which he says is flawed. Steiger says an energy policy will provide a plan so that another NYRI doesn’t come along after this.
But there is no denying that state power needs are changing. New York can’t afford a piece-meal policy, and upstate residents can’t afford to fight one power line at a time.
Having a firm policy can focus on future energy needs and make sure steps taken to address those needs are fair to all the people of the state.
New Upstate-Downstate power transmission line needs work
From Here to There
link is here:
http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/index.ssf?/base/opinion-2/1210323383227530.xml&coll=1
When Southern California Edison proposed a power transmission line between Palm Springs and Phoenix last year, the Arizona utility commission balked. "I don't want Arizona to become an energy farm for California," said one commissioner. Another called the project "a 230-mile extension cord."
The proposal grew out of a law passed by Congress in 2005 that focused on "national interest electric transmission corridors." The federal Department of Energy then designated two corridors, including one in Southern California. The other encompasses eight Northeastern states including the Upstate New York counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Madison and Oneida.
In 2006, New York Regional Interconnect proposed building a 190-mile high-voltage transmission line from Marcy in Oneida County south to Orange County cutting through the Madison County towns of Brookfield and Hamilton. The idea is opposed by both New York senators, members of Congress, state and local elected officials, environmentalists and homeowners. With the DOE opening the way for transmission line developers to seize land by eminent domain in "national interest" corridors, there seems to be a virtual consensus against the NYRI line.
OR IS THERE?
Responding to the study, Arcuri, one of the most vocal opponents of NYRI's original plan, said he might accept a line that followed the state Thruway. NYRI says federal law prohibits building along interstates unless there is no viable alternative. But a 2006 state law bars utility companies from using eminent domain, so why not consider the Thruway option?
Critics say New York City should build its own power plants, and reduce use through conservation. However, aging transmission lines still cannot keep pace with an estimated 43 percent increase in demand over the next 20 years.
Unlike congested Downstate, Upstate has space to build and energy to spare. Oswego County has three nuclear power plants, and a fourth is under active consideration, along with a giant new coal-fired plant. Upstate has plentiful reserves of natural gas, and growing arrays of wind farms supplement hydro power and other "renewables" under development.
It's been 20 years since the last significant new transmission lines were built from Upstate to Downstate. As this region develops its energy generation capacity, it could become not simply an "energy farm," but an "energy engine," building its own economy as it supplies affordable power to others.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is planning hearings on transmission issues. The hearings present an opportunity to examine DOE's corridor designations and determine whether alternatives to NYRI's original plan could break the stalemate.