Agencies to Hold Energy Conference in NYC What Won’t be Said Niagara Gets Short End of Power Deals
November 04, 2014 |
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Two bureaucracies —one state and one federal - The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) and the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) - will hold a conference this week to discuss energy in New York State. What will not likely occur is any candid review of the role of New York State in the hijacking the Niagara region's local hydropower in order to benefit New York City. “Given the fact that more than $2.6 billion flows through the …market annually, it is critically important that it reflects the state’s policy objectives and the needs of consumers in the state,” said PSC Chair Audrey Zibelman, explaining, although inadvertently, the reason why NYPA takes all of Niagara's local hydropower, yet WNY pays almost the highest rates in the USA (State Senate candidate Johnny Destino has said he would work to lower local energy costs if elected by working to reallocate the hydropower back to this region). FERC Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur, inadvertently explaining why NYPA sells cheap hydropower to eight other states, but local residents don't get to power their own homes with Niagara power, said, “It is critical to ensure that centralized capacity and energy markets send correct signals to support the procurement and retention of resources needed to deliver reliable energy.” In 2007, the Niagara region had a chance to withhold relicensing of NYPA’s exclusive rights to generate power from the Niagara River until the local communities got their fair share of what is more than $1 billion in power produced annually by the descent of the Niagara River. Local officials settled instead for annual payments of pennies - most communities get under $1 million per year - for a billion dollar a year power producer in their midst. Meantime local residents continue to pay high electric rates. While NYPA makes an annual net profit of $250 million per year, which funds the majority of NYPA expenses and the balance is swept into the state's general fund, local residents continue to buy electricity from National Grid, a company owned by British investors, who generate power from burning coal- as the river rushes by their doors generating power for NYC. Where else can you find people so badly represented and uninformed as to live amongst the greatest natural source of hydro power in the world and not only not get any use of the local hydropower, but pay exorbitant electrical rates to a foreign-owned company? They wouldn't believe this if you told it to the people on Mars. They'd think you're joking. Around here, the people don’t believe it either or don't care when they are told. Imagine, if any place else had such an asset and got none of the benefit, how they'd holler. But, Niagara is used to it. This is another example of how New York City dominates and suppresses the area. The conference, which assuredly will not mention any of the above, or allude to this decades-long theft of power from the Niagara region, will take place Tuesday (Nov. 5) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in New York City, at the Institute of Technology Auditorium on 1871 Broadway. The conference will feature discussions with energy experts, some of whom make money off of the Niagara region's residents not demanding that hydropower from the region power local households. A webcast will allow persons to listen to the conference at http://bcove.me/n8ovpqg7. The conference will later be transcribed and made publicly available following the conference.
|
