BILL NUMBER: S5494

SPONSOR: O'MARA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public lands law, in relation to the authority to
grant property rights

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that the state does not allow its
land under the water of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River to be used
by companies to construct electric transmission lines that discriminate
against electric generating facilities in New York by providing trans-
mission service to electric generating facilities located outside of the
United States but not providing transmission service to electric gener-
ating facilities in New York to transmit their energy within New York
State.

 
SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

              

Section 1. of this bill would apply to energy transmitted over an elec-
tric transmission line that: (1) may be, but is not limited to, a high
voltage direct current electric transmission line; (2) enters commercial
operation after the effective date of this act; (3) connects a location
outside of the United's States to a location within New York State; (4)
is not a merchant transmission line; and (5) does not provide access
within New York State for the state's electric generating facilities
also to transmit their energy over the line, (5) does not provide access
within the upstate region to electric generating facilities located
within the upstate region.

The bill defines "merchant transmission line" to mean an electric trans-
mission line and all related facilities, including but not limited to
voltage source converter stations for a. high voltage direct current
transmission line, the cost for which is not recovered from electricity
consumers through cost of service rates approved by any state or federal
entity or through a contract between the developer of the line and any
state or local entity, any utility subject to cost based regulation, or
any related entity.

The bill would prohibit CGS from leasing, or granting rights or ease-
ments to, the bed of Lake Champlain and to the bed of the Hudson River
to any company, any municipal entity, or any other legal entity to lay
such a transmission line.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The land under Lake Champlain came into state ownership though the Crown
of England, and Lake Champlain and Lake George are considered and treat-
ed the same. The Public Lands Law states that Crown lands are vested in
the people of this state. The historic treatment of the Lake George lake
bottom speaks to the treatment of Lake Champlain.  Lake George underwa-
ter permits have been issued by OGS, and OGS is in-charge of permitting
on Lake Champlain. The Public Lands Law allows the OGS Commissioner to
grant rights and easements in perpetuity or otherwise in and to all
state lands, including lands under water, at a price to be determined by
the Commissioner.  The ability of the OGS Commissioner to grant rights
and easements to lands under water, such as the land under Lake Cham-
plain and Lake George, should be limited to instances and purposes that
help achieve a public purpose that benefits New York State as a whole
and is in the public interest.

The granting of rights and easements to lands under the water of Lake
Champlain and Lake George for the laying of a transmission line that
originates outside the territorial limits of the United States, and that
does not provide access to electric generating facilities in New York to
transmit energy within New York state, for the purpose of importing
electricity into this state in a manner that bypasses exiting gener-
ation, including renewable energy in this state, does not sufficiently
benefit New York State and does not sufficiently encourage employment
opportunities or economic development within this state, and such trans-
mission lines harm electric generating facilities in New York.

Such a transmission line project will: 1) discourage the building of new
generating facilities, especially renewable energy resources, in New
York State and transmission lines to transmit energy generated in New
York state to where it is needed; (2) discourage the repowering of
existing generating facilities within New York State to reduce emissions
further in this state; and (3) discourage the rebuilding of existing
transmission lines in the state to transmit energy from Upstate to Down-
state. Construction and development of transmission lines that provide
access to electric generating facilities in New York State maximizes
employment and economic development in New York State and in our nation.

In September of 2016, the Office of Sustainability under New York City
Mayor Bill de Blasio issued its "Roadmap to 80 x 50," which acknowledges
that the City issued its 2015 Renewable Energy Request for Information
(RFI). The document noted that the City is speaking with project devel-
opers seeking to import renewable energy from outside the City via high
voltage direct current transmission lines.  An example of a proposed
high voltage direct current transmission line is the Champlain Hudson
Power Express (CHPE) transmission line proposed by Transmission Develop-
ers Inc. (TDI). The CHPE project is a proposed-333 mile high voltage
direct current transmission line that would originate in Quebec, Canada,
and come into New York State and down to New York City. Plans call for
two, five-inch diameter cables to be placed underwater or underground.
101.5 miles of the underground direct current cable would be buried in
the lard under the water of Lake Champlain. 67.4 miles of the cable
would be buried under the Hudson River, and 27.3 miles of the cable
would be buried under the Hudson and Harlem Rivers.

The CHPE line would bypass existing and new electric generating facili-
ties in New York State, including renewable energy resources; instead,
the line would bring 1,000 MN of primarily Canadian hydropower directly
from Canada into New York City. The CHPE project was proposed years ago,
but it was never built due to staggering coats, projected at well over
$2 billion. In fact, the project is so uneconomic that the only way it
could be built is if it were to receive subsidies, most likely from New
York ratepayers or the City's taxpayers.

In September of 2016, TDI provided its response to the City's 203.5
Renewable Energy PSI and proposed its CHPE transmission line project to
provide access to hydropower and wind energy resources by interconnect-
ing the province of Quebec with the City.  The ability of the OGS
Commissioner to grant rights and easements to lands under the water of
Lake Champlain and Lake George should not be used to enable projects
that would import power from another country when greater value is
derived by investing in New York's own electric system and the economic
benefits, tax revenues, and jobs those generation and transmission
resources provide to their local communities. New York State cannot
afford to send those jobs and revenues to Canada, and such an action
would not be in the public interest.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2018:S51758

2020: S1450

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the state.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.