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Electrical workers union objects to Champlain Hudson power line
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
By Steve Muller
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has written New York Public Service Commissioner Garry Brown to object to the Champlain Hudson Power Express Inc., or CHPE, transmission line linking generation sources in Quebec with downstate New York consumers.
IBEW Local 97, based in Syracuse, N.Y., represents more than 4,000 workers in electric generation and utility jobs in New York. Theodore Skerpon, president, business manager and financial secretary of the local, told Brown that CHPE, which he likened to “an extension cord from Quebec to NY City,” does nothing to address the well-known and serious transmission congestion issues that prevent power generated in upstate from reaching downstate consumers.
The Champlain Hudson line, proposed by Transmission Developers Inc., is a roughly 355-mile high-voltage, direct-current transmission line that would run from the Canada-U.S. border to Yonkers, N.Y., largely underwater through Lake Champlain, the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River. New York State Sen. George Maziarz, chairman of the state Senate Energy and Telecommunication Committee, earlier in December charged that the transmission line proposal would not help relieve congestion on the state transmission grid or benefit upstate New York generators. Stakeholders are working on a settlement over matters related to the transmission line’s siting certificate.
Skerpon said downstate consumers pay $250 million more than necessary due to transmission congestion.
“The responsibility of the NYS PSC to take action to address the massive overpayment for electricity by those located below transmission congestion is years overdue,” he said in his letter to Brown dated Dec. 22. “Allowing for the importation of power is a flawed solution that denies NYS power generators a chance to compete and will come at the expense of NYS jobs, NYS energy independence, NYS system reliability and public safety — all contrary to the statutory mission of the NYS PSC — and will impose a significant economic and social burden on a majority of NYS ratepayers.”
Skerpon said the CHPE proposal, being put forward by a private developer, contrasts sharply with the inability of state utilities and regulators over the past 30 years to approve and construct any major new transmission projects to reduce congestion. He did, however, express some hope that the ongoing New York ISO State Transmission Assessment Reliability Study would result in the identification of projects to reduce congestion and promote the development of new generation, including renewable generation, in the state.
Skerpon also wrote FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff to inquire how FERC Order 1000 on regional transmission planning affects the CHPE project, however, it is likely that CHPE’s fate will be determined before Order 1000 is fully implemented. (Case No. 10-T-0139)