Alexandria NY~ Workers Claim Boss Ordered Them To Work In Unsafe Building

 Five workers with the Alexandria Town Highway Department are claiming their boss, Highway Superintendent Jerry Durand, made them work inside a building without the proper safety equipment even after the workers found what they believed was asbestos. Continue reading via this link to WWNY

St. Lawrence Seaway navigation season ends

MASSENA — The 57th St. Lawrence Seaway navigation season came to a close Wednesday with the passing of the upbound Canadian-flagged CWB Marquis through Eisenhower Lock. Continue...

THE WESTINGHOUSE SMALL MODULAR REACTOR

The Westinghouse SMR is a >225 MWe integral pressurized water reactor with all primary components located inside the reactor vessel.

It utilizes passive safety systems and proven components - realized in the industry-leading AP1000® reactor design - to achieve the highest level of safety and reduce the number of components required. This approach will provide licensing, construction and operation certainty that no other SMR supplier can match.

Link here to read more

Ambit Energy to refund nearly $1M to 1,500 New Yorkers

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- One of the state's largest independent suppliers of electricity and gas for residential customers has agreed to refund nearly $1 million to New Yorkers to resolve complaints about its billing practices. Continue reading via this link to Syracuse.com

Law requires IDAs to ensure projects produce economic benefits

Watertown Daily Times Editorial

PUBLISHED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 AT 12:30 AM

A state law that will take effect in six months will compel industrial development agencies to hold companies more accountable for producing tangible economic benefits in exchange for financial incentives Continue reading via this link to the Watertown Daily Times

Paper covers only negative events in Cape

Letter to the Editor Watertown Daily Times

12/26/2015

The Cape Vincent I know is the embodiment of small-town America, charming and welcoming. Yet the Watertown Daily Times seems to only see the negative when it comes to reporting the news here.Continue...

Avangrid ~ formerly known as (Iberdrola) aims to take advantage of PTC extension

Avangrid – the recently launched, Iberdrola-backed US utility – will bring 746MW of new wind capacity online by the end of 2017, and build out as much of its 5.9GW pipeline or projects as possible under the newly-extended production tax credit (PTC), executives said Tuesday.
Continue reading via this link to RECHARGE

Will they be resuscitating the Horse creek project?

State legislation to hold IDAs more accountable for offering financial benefits

WATERTOWN — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has signed a bill into law that will compel industrial development agencies to use standardized criteria for financial assistance, ensuring applicants face consequences if they fail to create promised jobs. 

Continue via this link to the Watertown Daily Times

Rural upstate town votes to go 100 percent renewable in four years

ALBANY — A rural town outside of Albany plans to disconnect from the electrical grid, both to increase its reliance on renewable sources of energy and to gain some energy independence. Continue...

Editorial Page Roundup: Get serious, Gov. Cuomo

Editorial pages across New York state are demanding Gov. Andrew Cuomo get serious about ending corruption in Albany. The call comes after Cuomo vetoed two good government bills in the dead of night, while issuing his own, weaker executive order.

The governor's actions came on the heels of two recent convictions of powerful state leaders, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Continue reading via this link to the Rochedter D&C

Town of Somerset seeks state rejection of document in company’s wind power application

SOMERSET – The attorney for the Town of Somerset has asked the state Public Service Commission to throw out a key document filed by the promoters of a proposed wind power project, contending that it lacks necessary information.

Former state Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco, who was hired to fight the project, said... 
continue reading via this link to the Buffalo News  

APEX new owner of Galloo ~ Morphs Maryland Wind project into Solar, due to Community opposition

filed:  December 19, 2015 • Maryland

Wind project converting to solar  

CHESTERTOWN — The company planning a controversial wind farm in Kent County went back to the drawing board and came up with a new proposition — a 330-acre solar array.

“Apex’s mission is to accelerate the shift to clean energy, and we are always trying to design the best projects possible for the specific communities in which we work. For the past year, we have been listening closely to community feedback about our proposed wind energy project,”

Read more...  www.myeasternshoremd.com

Apex could easily convert their proposed Galloo Island wind project into a Solar project and here is why they should.

Ten Best Reasons for Apex to Use Solar Instead of Wind on Galloo Island.

1. Article 10 reasonable alternatives to the facility are required by PSL 164(i)
2. Apex won't have to do a visual simulation for negative scenic impacts, since there are none.
3. Bald eagles, other raptors and migrating waterfowl won't be chopped, diced and blended.
4. Solar has no risk from a turbine failure fire destroying the entire and unique Galloo Island habitat.
5. No blinking light disturbance from nighttime turbine lighting for lake-shore property owners.
6. Solar is New York and Gov. Cuomo's preferred renewable energy alternative while wind is waning.
7. No potential wind turbine infrasound health effects for lake-shore residents.
8. No lake-shore property devaluation from degraded sunset views from 30, 500+ ft spinning turbines.
9. Town of Hounsfield still gets their money without pissing-off neighboring towns.
10. Even fewer jobs created so no PILOT will be granted by Jeff County and more tax revenue for taxing authorities.

CEO Reviled for Drug Price Gouging, Arrested

Martin Shkreli, the boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested by... Continue

Galloo Island Wind Project Sold

The proposed Galloo Island wind project is changing hands.

 Don Alexander & Bill Moore

Apex Clean Energy announced Wednesday it is purchasing the "development assets" for the project from Hudson Energy, the current developer. Link here to Apex Galloo Island Website

Continue reading via this link to WNYTV 

Link here to read Related Story from the Watertown Daily Times

Speaker Ryan Announces Bipartisan Budget Deal That includes 5 year extension of Wind Welfare Tax Credit

Republicans managed to secure a few wins in the negotiations, including lifting the ban on exporting domestic crude oil and placing a two-year delay on Obamacare's medical device tax. Democrats managed to use their leverage to rid the legislation of language making it harder for refugees to come to the United States and they secured a five-year extension of renewable energy tax credits. Continue reading via this link to TPM

The Air We Breathe ~ How Much Is It Worth?

Canadians are selling cans of fresh air to China  

What started as a joke, now has Founders Moses Lam and Troy Paquette laughing all the way to the bank...CNBC

Repower turbine collapse

FRANCE: Preliminary results of an investigation into a turbine collapse in France indicate a fault in the machine's shaft caused the rotor to fall to the ground.

Continue reading via this link to Windpower Monthly

The Anti-Science, Anti-Nuclear Left

 Atomic energy is indispensable in reducing greenhouse gases, but climate-change activists don’t want to hear it.

Among the favorite claims of climate-change activists is that anyone who dares to disagree with their worldview is a “denier,” and that those who reject their orthodoxy about the workings of the Earth’s atmosphere are “anti-science.” Continue reading via this link to National Review

Trump Fights Wind-Farms Because They’re ‘Ugly Monstrosities’

Donald Trump expects a court to rule next Wednesday in his legal fight against a planned wind farm that borders a golf resort he owns in Scotland.

Trump says that  new wind farm will spoil the view of a nearby luxury golf resort he owns. Continue reading via this link to the Daily Caller

Cuomo vetoes bills for transparency

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed two bills Friday that were on the top of reformers’ wish lists to increase transparency at a time when corruption convictions have eroded trust in state government.

Continue reading via this link to Politico

Officials join against wind project

 Somerset  Pro Versus Con

BARKER — Speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people inside the Barker Fire Hall, Jim Simon went from being a member of the audience to a leader addressing them.

Simon will become the town of Yates supervisor in January, putting him Tuesday on the same level as Somerset Supervisor Dan Engert; incoming Yates Councilman John Riggi; and former state attorney general Dennis Vacco.Continue...

New York Electric Energy Demand in the Next Decade

With all the recent buzz associated with wind farm development, transmission line planning, nuclear generation closing, and lowering natural gas prices the New York Independent System Operator published a recent report titled, “Power Trends 2014: Evolution of the Grid.” The report discusses future demand for electric energy in New York for the next decade.

Question: How much growth do you think NYISO is projecting for New York in the next decade?

25%

18%

11%

5%

<2%

The answer is on page 4 of NYISO’s report: “ ...overall electric energy use is forecast to grow at an average annual rate of 0.16 percent over the next decade.” (1.6% for 10 years).  Growth in peak demand is a bigger concern because of Downstate’s appetite for staying cool during summer heat waves. Growth in peak demand is forecast for less than 10%, however, growth in average demand will be stagnant for the next decade and presumably beyond then as well. 

Link here to read the report

Governor Cuomo Announces Winners of 1.5 Billion in Economic Development Resources.

The North country was awarded

0 dollars

Continue reading at this link

Bernie Sanders Reveals his plan to ensure energy security

Sanders' plan is to repeal billions in tax subsidies to oil, gas and other fossil fuel producers, and develop a 100 percent clean-energy system sustained by wind and solar power. Continue reading via this link to The Idaho statesman

Cuomo the Great Manipulator

Governor Cuomo continues to revise his role in creating the Moreland Commission. He now says the defunct commission was never intended to investigate to prosecute anyone.  Continue reading via this link to WMAC~

Cuomo Must Embrace New York's Nuclear Power

In the midst of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris, Governor Andrew Cuomo has directed the State Department of Public Service to design and enact a new Clean Energy Standard that requires half of all electricity used in New York State to be produced from clean and renewable energy sources by 2030.

The state has also vowed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by that same year. Continue via this link to Forbes/Energy

Upstate New York's nuclear plants support 25,000

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The four nuclear power reactors in Upstate New York, including three in Oswego County, are responsible for $3 billion in economic activity and nearly 25,000 jobs, according to a consultant's report paid for by nuclear operator Exelon Corp. and three unions fighting to keep the Upstate plants alive.

The report is unlikely to prevent Entergy Corp.'s shutdown of the FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Oswego County roughly a year from now. But it might bolster support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to support the other three Upstate reactors with new payments tied to the carbon-free benefits of nuclear power. Continue...Syracuse.com

Cuomo cites nuclear energy as ‘bridge’ fuel

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed plan to include nuclear power in a broader low-carbon energy policy recognizes the reality that we need all nonemitting sources of electricity as we transition to a cleaner power grid.

Maria Korsnick

Washington, D.C.

The writer is chief operating officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute.

 Continuue reading via this link to the Watertown Daily Times

Maine’s high court rejects Bowers Mountain wind power project

 The project in Penobscot County was first proposed six years ago, but never won regulators' approval – a decision affirmed Thursday by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

In the 12-page decision written by Chief Justice Leigh Saufley, the court examined portions of the 2004 Wind Energy Act, which allows for expedited permitting zones – areas naturally suited for wind power generation – to help head off challenges by groups that oppose wind turbines because they are unsightly.

The legislation stipulates that a project must not compromise views from scenic resources of state or national significance. 

Continue reading via this link to the Portland Press Harold

State Audit Criticizes Lowville School District

  A state audit is criticizing the Lowville Academy and Central School District for the way it handles its money.

According to Office of the State Comptroller, the district failed to effectively manage its fund balance as it receives payments in lieu of taxes from the Maple Ridge Wind Farm.

WNYFTV

Entergy rejects Cuomo idea, says FitzPatrick nuclear plant will close for sure

SCRIBA, N.Y. -- Entergy Corp. today dismissed Gov. Andrew Cuomo's tentative scheme to save the FitzPatrick nuclear plant, saying there is no doubt the reactor will shut down by early 2017. Continue reading via this link to Syracuse.com