Article X to be Topic for July Session

The New York Legislature ended its regular session Friday without passing legislation that would allow expedited siting of power plants. Utilities, power producers and the New York Independent System Operator have said the measure is needed to attract investment in plants and avoid electricity shortages.

The legislature could possibly take up the matter again as early as July, when he expects lawmakers will reconvene for a limited, special session. At issue is the Article X law, which provided a single process for obtaining all permits, and guaranteed a one-year limit to the review process. Article X also gave the state authority to override local objections to plants.

But the law expired at the end of 2002, and lawmakers since have been unable to agree on a new bill. The Republican-controlled Senate has passed bills calling for a re-authorization of the existing law, which required full siting review for plants of 80 MW or more. But the Democratic-controlled Assembly wanted to lower the threshold to 30 MW, and to allow more local input, as well as more attention to "environmental justice" issues.

At the end of May, both houses passed bill that included those differences and also diverged on fuel sources, with the Senate measure allowing nuclear and coal plants, and the Assembly allowing only coal plants that did not increasing global warming.

That proved to be one of the deal-breakers given that the Assembly and Senate conferees could not agree which resources would be covered by Article X's 12-month review, Lynch said.

In addition, the two sides disagreed on measures to address local impacts an environmental justice--the assurance that plants are not disproportionately sited in low-income areas.

The ISO has vigorously pressed for a siting law, warning that parts of the state could face shortages if new plants are not built by 2012. The Independent Power Producers of New York said that without Article X's one-stop permitting, developers face a lengthy, expensive process, as well as the inconsistent and often arbitrary judgments of local officials.