LYME ~ Submits Comments to the Public Service Commission

Hon. Jaclyn A. Brilling
New York State Public Service Commission
Empire State Plaza
Agency Building 3
Albany, NY 12223-1350
Dear Ms. Brilling,
New York State recently enacted legislation known as the Power NY Act of 2011 and said
legislation amended the public service law by adding a new Article X, which establishes a
New York State Board of Electrical Generation Siting Board.
Said Board will have the authority to permit the siting of electrical generating facilities in the
State which have a nameplate generating capacity of twenty-five thousand kilowatts or
more.
As a home rule state, New York's local municipalities, by virtue of decisions made by locallyelected
representatives, should ultimately decide whether such development is in their
residents' best interests.

The Power NY Act of 2011 removes said decision making from local municipalities,
and puts that authority into the hands of a bureaucratic State Board which will have nominal
representation from affected communities, and even that representation cannot be from
elected representatives of those communities.

The new Board will have the authority to ignore "any local ordinance, law or any local
standard or requirement if it finds that such is unreasonably burdensome on ratepayers
whether located inside or outside of such municipality".

The new law further states that "no municipality may require any approval, consent, permit,
certificate or other condition for the construction or operation" of such facility.
While the law provides for the set-aside of funds for pre-hearing research on behalf of the
affected communities, said funds are controlled by the Board and will be allocated as it sees
fit.

The large majority of the Board's membership will have no connection to the affected
communities and will not be directly affected by their decisions. While municipalities may be
a party to the siting hearings, so may any individual within 5 miles of the proposed facility's
site, and therefore the municipality itself, which purpose, by law, is to represent the
residents who elect its officials, is diminished to the level of each individual within the 5 mile
radius, whether or not he/she lives in the affected municipality.

Said law follows a disturbing trend in New York State to remove powers from local
jurisdictions and therefore from the affected electorate and transfer such powers to a
faceless bureaucracy which has no constituency.

The Town of Lyme opposes, protests, and expresses its deep disappointment and concern
over the establishment of said siting Board and of the enactment of the Power NY Act of
2011.

The people of the Town of Lyme, with the assistance of the Jefferson County Planning
Department have worked for years to produce a fact based zoning law that protects the
health, welfare, and safety of the citizens of our community. This law is based on a
Comprehensive Plan done jointly with the Village of Chaumont Planning Board, again with
help from Jefferson County Planning, along with a great deal of community input. Although I
am sure everyone thinks their own community is unique, our geography is indeed unusual
in that we have a very narrow town with a great deal of waterfront. The waterfront land
makes up the majority of our tax base and there is a serious concern over loss of property
value if the area is industrialized. Our concern is not solely for waterfront residents, even a
small loss in home value would be devastating to the many homeowners scattered
throughout the town. Our Comprehensive Plan calls for development that preserves or
enhances the natural, historic, and scenic qualities of the town, and we feel that we, the
people of the town are the best judges of how to develop our town.

Respectfully,

Scott G. Aubertine
Town of Lyme Supervisor
PO Box 66
12175 NYS Rte. 12 E
Chaumont, NY 13622