NEWS
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Power Authority to Make Annual
Payment of $2 Million to Local Entities November 27, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MASSENA—Communities and school districts within the boundary of the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project will soon benefit from NYPA’s latest annual payment of $2 million in connection with the project’s receipt of a new federal operating license in 2003. The funds, expected to be available on Dec. 1, are designated for the towns of Massena, Louisville and Waddington; the villages of Massena and Waddington; the Massena and Madrid-Waddington school districts; and St. Lawrence County. An agreement between the local entities and the Power Authority, reached during the relicensing process, calls for NYPA to make a $2 million payment in each year of the new license’s 50-year term. The payments are made each year from the Community Enhancement Fund, established pursuant to the relicensing agreement between NYPA and the members of the St. Lawrence Local Government Task Force. The Power Authority also provided an advance payment of $4 million before the new license took effect. The annual payments are part of the financial support and other benefits that NYPA will provide in the area during the term of the St. Lawrence project’s license under various settlement agreements. Among the benefits are major improvements to state and local parks and the Wilson Hill Wildlife Management Area; the return of lands, not required for project operations, to local communities and residents; and NYPA expenditure of about $66 million for fish and wildlife habitat improvement projects, environmental research and shoreline erosion control.- In addition, NYPA is carrying out a $281 million life extension and modernization program at the St. Lawrence-FDR project. The program, which will enable the project to operate at maximum efficiency for many years to come, is expected to be completed in 2013. About NYPA: ■ NYPA uses no tax money or state credit. It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity. ■ NYPA is a leader in promoting energy-efficiency, new energy technologies and electric transportation initiatives. ■ It is the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility, with 18 generating facilities in various parts of the state and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. |
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