State senators seek to block 1,000 Mw transmission line

More than a dozen New York state senators are stepping up efforts to block a proposed 1,000-megawatt transmission line that would connect clean energy providers in Quebec to downstate consumers.

The group, which is led by Republican State Senator George Maziarz of Newfane and includes Republican State Senator Greg Ball of Carmel, argues that the Champlain Hudson Power Express project would come at the expense of jobs at upstate power generating facilities.

The proposed $2.2 billion, 333-mile, high voltage direct current transmission cable has been in the works for more than three years.

The project has been developed by Albany-based Transmission Developers Inc., which in February 2010 was acquired by New York City private equity firm Blackstone Group L.P., and would be entirely privately financed.

Maziarz told reporters at a press conference in Albany earlier this month that the CHPE transmission line “is nothing more than an extension cord from Quebec to New York City that won”™t create a single long-term job while putting tens of thousands of existing jobs in mortal danger,” according to published reports.

Neither Maziarz nor Ball responded to calls for comment.

Transmission Developers CEO and President Donald Jessome refuted the claims, saying hundreds of jobs would be generated over the course of the transmission line”™s construction, with thousands more resulting from an estimated $650 million in annual energy savings for consumers.

“We”™ve done the macroeconomic studies on what the approximately $650 million a year in consumer benefits translates to, and that”™s about 2,400 permanent jobs in the state,” Jessome said.

The data are based on a study conducted by London Economics International L.L.C. for Transmission Developers. A full copy is available on the Transmission Developers website.

The state Senate on May 7 introduced a bill sponsored by Maziarz that would strip electric corporations seeking to build or expand transmission lines connecting a location outside of the United States to a location within New York state of any eminent domain rights.

Eminent domain refers to the right of a government to authorize the use of private property for public use, with payment to the property owner.

Jessome said the bill, if approved, likely wouldn”™t impact the transmission line proposal, but criticized the state Senate for allowing such “single purpose bills.”

“Our project has always been designed around all of our land rights being proprietary in nature,” he said, adding that Transmission Developers has been in discussions for more than two years with the major property owners whose land the proposed transmission line would cross.

“It can send very, very bad signals to the New York marketplace from an investment perspective that single purpose bills can be put forward that can really dampen the economic climate in a marketplace that”™s trying to bring in private equity,” he said. “But we don”™t anticipate relying on eminent domain.”

Maziarz”™s bill was referred to the Senate Energy and Telecommunications subcommittee.

The Business Council of Westchester has joined Maziarz in opposing the CHPE transmission project.

John Ravitz, executive vice president and COO of the Business Council, said the state”™s generators and transmission facilities currently provide about $600 million in annual tax revenue to the state and localities.

“The danger of losing that revenue, the danger of losing those jobs is one that we can”™t support. This extension cord to Canada has a lot of problems I think we should be concerned about,” Ravitz said.

However, the project has already received widespread support.

In February, Transmission Developers reached a joint proposal of settlement with the city of New York and the city of Yonkers, as well as the state”™s departments of environmental conservation, transportation, agriculture and markets, and state, and several non-governmental organizations including Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson.

The joint proposal has since been submitted to the state”™s Department of Public Service as part of the Article VII process for licensing transmission lines and new power generation sources.

Last year, 20 U.S. representatives from New York, including Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey of Harrison, backed the project in a letter to the Public Service department.

Additionally, Empire State Development Corp., the state”™s chief economic development agency, supports the project and is working with other state agencies in forwarding the proposal.

 

[Editor’s note: Corrected to reflect that John Ravitz is executive vice president and COO of the Business Council of Westchester. An earlier version omitted his title.]