Energy

(02/02/12) St. Lawrence County legislators are scheduled to take another look at a Climate Action Plan next week. When legislators asked the County Planning Department to write the plan last March, they wanted ways to save money by being more energy efficient.

The climate plan was tabled last summer, when students and professors at the four universities in Canton and Potsdam started a cost-benefit analysis of some ideas in the plan. more

(01/26/12) The Department of Energy has drastically reduced its estimate for natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale. The Innovation Trail's Matt Richmond reports. more

(01/24/12) Hundreds of anti-hydrofracking protesters were at the State Capitol Monday, in one of the largest demonstrations against the natural gas drilling process so far. In Albany, Karen DeWitt has the details on the protests. more

(01/12/12) A new report from the Brookings Institution finds investment in clean energy is paying off. The Innovation Trail's Ryan Delaney reports New York is reaping big benefits because it's taking a comprehensive approach. more

(01/11/12) Politics and price are pitting gas drilling against offshore wind on the Great lakes.
Our Front and Center partnership with WBEZ in Chicago looks at hopes for economic revival in the nation's rustbelt.

In the Cleveland area, politicians and businessmen have been pushing for years to build a wind farm in Lake Erie. But the project's financing is up in the air, and as WBEZ's Chip Mitchell reports, state politics is tipping the balance toward hydrofracking, and away from what could be the first major offshore wind development in the Great Lakes. more

(01/11/12) The prospect of wind energy development has divided north country communities from Cape Vincent to Clinton County. New York's new Article X law gives developers the option to seek state review of where to put their wind farms. But prior to Article X, accepting and siting the big turbines was up to each town. And companies can still choose local rather than state review.

More than once, the conflict over wind has spilled over into local politics. That has been the case in both Cape Vincent, on Lake Ontario, and Hammond, on a windy ridge overlooking the St. Lawrence River. In both towns, last fall's elections pitted incumbent supervisors who favor regulation of wind power against challengers who had already signed leases with energy companies to place wind turbines on their land. Joanna Richards reports on the likely impact of those elections. more

(01/11/12) The state Department of Environmental Conservation has a lot of reading to do about hydrofracking. The deadline to comment about new regulations was midnight. The DEC already had more than 21,000 comments on the issue. And yesterday, both supporters and opponents of the controversial gas-drilling technique brought box after box filled with more comments. more

(01/11/12) A new report from the Brookings Institution finds investment in clean energy is paying off. The Innovation Trail's Ryan Delaney reports New York is reaping large benefits because it's taking a comprehensive approach. more

(01/05/12) Governor Cuomo's agenda for the coming year includes more than $20 billion for capital projects aimed at boosting the state's infrastructure.

One of the big ticket items is a $2 billion plan to develop new high tech utility lines designed to feed electricity from producers in the North Country and Quebec to consumers downstate. Brian Mann reports. more

(01/04/12) Gov. Andrew Cuomo set the agenda for another ambitious year, delivering a rousing, multi-media state of the state speech to the joint legislature today.

Tops on the list: the biggest convention center in the nation, to be built at Aqueduct racetrack in New York City.

He promised another round of round of regional economic development grants too, and $1 billion in incentives for businesses in Buffalo.

He supports an "energy highway" -- a $2 billion private sector plan to transmit power from upstate New York to the metropolitan area. He'd also convert old power plants to reduce pollution and promote solar energy production through a rebate program.

Cuomo wants to make more capital available to farmers, expand the "FreshConnect" farmers' market program, and establish distribution hubs for produce around the state.

The governor put some big ideas on the table along with the specifics. He wants to "re-imagine" state government, with public hearings on mandate relief, a commission to transform of public education and a revamped emergency management system.

Also on the list: campaign finance reform, tax reform, a constitutional amendment allowing non-Native casino gambling, and an Office of New Americans.