All Power Plants Not Equal? by Danny Hakim

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and lawmakers have been negotiating for several weeks to revive a law that speeds approval of power plants by overriding local ordinances. This week, the issue will be the subject of one of three rare public conference committees held by the Democrat-led Assembly and the Republican-controlled Senate.

Finding homes for new power plants, as one might imagine, is controversial.

Last week, both the Senate and the Assembly passed legislation that would bring back the law, known as Article X, which expired in January 2003. Both the Assembly and the governor, below, want to allow only coal plants with low emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, though the specifics of their proposals differ. Neither would permit fast approval for nuclear plants under Article X, and they argue that the length of the federal review process makes speedy approval impossible anyway.

The industry favors the Senate’s version and had a hand in writing it. That bill would allow nuclear plants and a broader range of coal plants.

“There aren’t that many plants being built,” said Patrick J. Curran, executive director of the Energy Association of New York State, a consortium of power producers. “If you’re looking at demand and what’s expected to come online, the numbers don’t add up.”

Senator Jim Wright, an upstate Republican who sponsored the Senate bill, said the other proposals would not encourage the industry to build enough new plants. Further, he said, it would create too many emissions rules.

The other side of the aisle disagrees. “If we pass our bill, we would expect thousands of megawatts, or about 20 percent of today’s capacity, will be approved through the process within the first few years,” said Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for Mr. Spitzer.

Jason K. Babbie, a policy analyst at the New York Public Interest Research Group, said, “The governor and the Assembly recognize this is an expedited process that overrides local law and is an incentive program, therefore we should be incentivizing those technologies that best serve New York residents and rate payers.”

The Senate bill, he said, allows for too many kinds of plants. “If you can generate power using hamsters,” he said, “it can be included.”