A Faceoff on Green Power Proposal; Can a Quarter of State's Electricity Go Green?
Jun 19 - Buffalo News
Environmentalists Wednesday praised a proposal that would require a quarter of electricity purchased in New York to come from renewable energy sources, but local business officials worried that the requirement could drive up power prices.
The proposal, recommended by an administrative law judge, calls for increased
use of electricity generated from renewable sources, including solar, tidal,
fuel cells, hydroelectric, biomass and landfill gases.
Supporters of the proposal, which is being reviewed by the state Public
Service Commission, said the increased reliance on renewable energy sources
would make New York's power supplies less dependent on fossil fuels and would
produce major health benefits by reducing pollution.
"We believe they are more environmentally sustainable than the fossil
fuels we currently are depending on," said Robert Knoer, the chairman of
the Wind Action Group, a local organization that supports the development of
wind power. "We believe renewable sources are going to help us achieve
energy independence."
Knoer, one of more than 20 people who spoke during a two-hour PSC hearing on
the proposal, said a push for renewable energy sources could help the Buffalo
Niagara region capitalize on its lakeside location, which makes it attractive as
a site for wind-powered generating facilities.
"We have a great natural resource here in wind," he said. "We
believe that capturing that resource will help us, not only environmentally, but
economically."
Supporters said the proposal would help the struggling upstate economy by
spurring the construction and development of new power plants that would create
thousands of jobs throughout the region as electricity suppliers scramble to
meet the proposed renewable energy target.
New York currently gets about 19 percent of its electricity from renewable
sources, mostly from the New York Power Authority's Niagara Power Project and a
smaller hydro plant on the St. Lawrence River. The increased standard would be
phased in through either 2013 or 2015, with a mid-course review of the targets
in 2008.
"Nothing is cleaner than wind and sun," said Walter Simpson, the
co-chairman of the Western New York Sustainable Energy Association. "If
nothing else, the proposal does not go far enough and fast enough."
But critics worried that the proposal would force consumers and businesses in
New York to get more of their electricity from power sources that currently are
not competitive economically.
"If renewable sources of energy were indeed competitive, the private
sector would already be building such capacity," said Kevin Schuler, vice
president of government affairs for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, the
region's largest business advocacy group.
"Instead, a few heavily subsidized entrepreneurs stand to make a bundle
by introducing a more costly product into the marketplace that utilities are
forced to buy," he said.
Adopting the recommendations could lead to higher electricity prices, the
report said. Residential electric bills could rise by as much as 1.8 percent,
while commercial bills could go up as much as 2 percent and industrial customers
could pay up to 2.4 percent more, the report estimated.
Higher prices could cause significant job losses in an already fragile
upstate economy, Schuler warned.
PSC officials also said the higher costs of renewable energy sources could be
offset by a reduced reliance on higher-priced fossil fuels. If that happens,
estimated residential bills could go down slightly.
Jeffrey D. Williams, a Niagara Mohawk spokesman, also raised concerns that
the increased reliance on wind power, which is dependent on wind conditions,
could cut the overall reliability of the state's power grid.
Ann Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Environmental Advocates of New York, praised
the proposal for excluding garbage-burning plants from the list of recommended
renewable sources. "Those plants are no cleaner than the coal plants we're
trying to improve upon," she said.
But a spokesman for American Ref-Fuel, which runs a trash- burning plant in
Niagara Falls, said waste-burning facilities reduce the need for landfill space
and have made great strides in meeting pollution standards.
The proposal would reduce pollution, cutting nitrogen oxide emissions
statewide by almost 7 percent, sulfur dioxide emissions by 6 percent and carbon
dioxide emissions by nearly 8 percent.
e-mail: drobinson@buffnews.com