Federal official tells power producers that state must speed up plant approvals

Federal official tells power producers that state must speed up plant approvals

May 11--COLONIE -- By Kevin Harlin, Times Union, Albany, N.Y. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

New York needs to renew expired legislation intended to speed the siting of new power plants, says the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Chairman Pat Wood III said New York has been a leader in energy deregulation, which he said has increased reliability of supply.

But speaking at the spring legislative conference of Independent Power Producers of New York, held Tuesday at The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center, Wood said the state should bring back the so-called Article 10 siting legislation that expired almost 2 1/2 years ago.

"I do worry about the future growth in this state when you have the Article 10 issue," said Wood, a former Texas state regulator, whom President Bush appointed to head FERC in 2001.

Under Article 10, applications for new power plants went through a fast-track state review that typically took 12 months. Without it, applications have to go through a locally controlled and more open-ended review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act.

Since Article 10's expiration, IPPNY -- the Albany-based trade group representing power-generation companies -- has made renewal one of its top legislative priorities.

"Under SEQR you can build (a power plant). But is it practical, and is it going to get done? No," said Gavin Donohue, IPPNY executive director.

The Legislature has looked at renewal bills each year since Article 10 expired. The Senate's Energy and Telecommunications Committee passed one Tuesday; another bill currently is in the Assembly's Ways and Means Committee.

The speed of siting plants is just one obstacle to building more generating capacity in New York. Another is financing new plants: Interest nationwide has been abysmal in recent years.

But Wood said he believes the worst might be over.

He said Article 10's renewal will allow the market to respond better to the shortage of energy in New York, particularly in New York City.

"Call me a market fan, but, quite frankly, I'm a reliability fan just as strongly," he said.

William Garnett, president of Black River Energy LLC, a Charlotte, N.C.-based company with a power plant in Watertown and others elsewhere, said he believes the state Legislature should renew Article 10.

And he believes New York is in a better place than California was before it had its energy crises in 2001.

"At the same time, (New York's power market) could fall into the toilet without any imagination," Garnett said. "People can screw it up."

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