Governor David Paterson Has Serious Energy Challenges

Governor David Paterson is inheriting a very bad energy situation. The State of New York is in a crisis that has been avoided by just about every policy-making body and regulatory agency. The largest crisis is reliably meeting future electricity demand. The second crisis is meeting this electricity demand in an environmentally friendly manner. Clean air must always be a priority because much of New York is a Clean Air Act nonattainment area. Next is cost of energy. Not only should energy be available, it should be affordable. It appears that the only electricity generating facilities that will be allowed to be constructed in the short term are natural gas-fired plants. Where will that gas come from and will it be expensive? The answers are nobody knows where it will come from and regardless of its source, it will be very expensive.

The electricity power plant licensing law (Article 10) expired years ago and the state currently has no law on the books to license large power plants. Canada cannot provide enough natural gas to meet our needs, particularly for electricity generation. We need more transmission lines to get more electricity into the state. We also need to build more plants in the state so that we are not captive to expensive electricity imports.

Here are some of our recommendations for Governor Paterson:

1) Prioritize Reauthorizing Article X

2) Approve the Broadwater Project

3) Support the License Renewal of the Indian Point nuclear power plant

4) Support building at least 2 new nuclear power plants in the state.

5) Promote production and use of plug-in, fuell cell hybrid electric vehicles.

Of course we have more recommendations but this would be a good start. AAEA-New York would be happy to support the new governor in his programs to assure affordable and reliable energy in the state.