June 23, 2011
New York
New York
The other side of the power bill
by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau, Capitol Confidential, blog.timesunion.com 23 June 2011
by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau, Capitol Confidential, blog.timesunion.com 23 June 2011
Legislation to allow on-bill financing and renew a power plant siting law for New York passed last night – with some dissent.
Assemblywoman Addie Russell, a North Country Democrat (who, ironically, sits next to bill sponsor and Energy Committee chair Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston) was one of 13 members who voted against it. (It passed 117-13 in the Assembly, and 59-3 in the Senate).
She was concerned that the new siting process – called Article X – sets too low a threshold for generation at 25 megawatts instead of 80. This will capture wind farms unnecessarily, she said.
“There are concerns over the loss of local control, especially with local wind projects,” Russell told me last night. “Even though the state has to follow local laws, it can determine them ‘unreasonable.’”
The bill was praised by both power producers and environmentalists.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/23/the-other-side-of-the-power-bill/