News stories tagged with "power"

(09/27/11) This summer, the St. Lawrence County legislature considered a measure to create a climate action plan. The plan would find ways to save money while reducing the county government's carbon footprint. That could include anything from energy audits in county buildings to anti-idling policies in county parking lots. The legislature tabled the matter because it wanted a better cost-benefit analysis of the plan.

Clarkson University professor Stephen Bird hopes to provide that analysis. Bird studies energy and environmental policy. He's working with faculty and students at all four universities in Canton and Potsdam. Bird told David Sommerstein that climate change models project significant changes for the North Country in the future.

(03/17/11) Governor Andrew Cuomo says he's concerned over a report that one of the nuclear reactors at the Indian Point power plant along the Hudson River is on an earthquake fault line, and is checking into the matter. Karen DeWitt reports.

(03/15/11) The crisis in Japan is unfolding just as Vermont's legislature is debating the future of Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

That 39-year-old plant has faced troubles of its own, including the discovery last year that it was leaking a substance called tritium into the groundwater.

Just last week, the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave Vermont Yankee approval to operate for another two decades.

But the disaster in Japan is sparking new opposition among state lawmakers.

Brian Mann spoke with Shay Totten, a reporter and columnist for the weekly magazine "Seven Days" based in Burlington.

(03/10/11) New York's Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make the Power For Jobs program permanent. The newly named "Recharge NY" program would double in size by using electricity that had been allocated to small residential energy bill discounts. It would still offer low-cost power to hundreds of companies across the state in return for job commitments. The new version of the program would also set aside $8 million to offer power discounts for farmers. The now goes before the state Assembly.

Republican Joe Griffo says the bill is one success in what he calls a "very hectic" session. Griffo says lawmakers are scrambling to finish budget bills while trying to avoid the "three-men-in-a-room" process that's given Albany such a bad name. "To debate these issues in public between both houses and hopefully arrive on a consensus so we can have an on-time budget," Griffo says. "I think everybody is trying to work together and do the best we can despite our philosophic differences."

Those differences include how much to cut education spending and how to make redistricting less partisan.

Griffo represents the 47th Senate district, which stretches from Utica in the south, though Lewis County and the eastern half of St. Lawrence County to Massena. He told David Sommerstein making the popular Power For Jobs program permanent is an important step forward.

(03/07/11) As we've been hearing in John Dillon's report, there is a debate raging over the future of Hydro Quebec's power projects and their impact on the environment.

Brian Mann has traveled repeatedly to Cree Crounty in northern Quebec, talking with local leaders about the way industrial power projects are changing their villages and the landscape.

This morning as part of our series Story 2.0, we'll revisit his report from 2007.

(02/22/11) Managing the power grid is a balancing act. As we flip on our coffee makers and turn on hairdryers, the grid is reacting, breathing harder, so to speak, to keep up with our demand. A facility in upstate New York is using battery power to make balancing the grid more efficient. Emma Jacobs has more for the Innovation Trail. more

(10/19/10) A recent report from the agency that monitors New York's electric grid says the state can quintuple the amount of wind power pulsing through the system by 2018. But wind developers say the chances of hitting that mark are slim.

Wind farms are having trouble making profits for their owners. As the Innovation Trail's Zack Seward reports, more incentives may be needed if the state wants to meet its renewable energy goals. more

(06/22/10) Municipal power advocates are in Albany making a final push for a new North Country authority. The bill would be the first real step toward two dozen towns in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties starting a not-for-profit electric company. David Sommerstein reports. more

(04/20/10) A bill that would allow two dozen towns in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties to form a municipal power company is getting closer to passage. And local leaders are taking a bus to Albany today to try to push it over the finish line. The bill to create the North Country Power Authority is the product of a decade of work by the Alliance for Municipal Power. The bill has already passed the Senate. After clearing a key committee in the Assembly yesterday, it's now one committee away from a floor vote. Supporters believe it will pass. David Sommerstein reports.

(04/01/10) Remember that huge blackout in the summer of 2003? 45 million people in the Midwest and Northeast US, as well as 10 million in Canada, lost power. Government and utilities are spending billions of dollars on what's called a "Smart Grid," in part, so we don't have more large scale blackouts. But there's a lot more to the emerging system. Julie Grant has more. more