S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9898
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              August 28, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. O'MARA, GALLIVAN, GRIFFO, MURRAY, PALUMBO, STEC --
   read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to
   the Committee on Rules
 
 AN  ACT to establish the commission on reopening the Indian Point energy
   center; to amend the energy law, the general municipal law, the public
   authorities law, and the public service  law,  in  relation  to  defi-
   nitions of certain terms relating to renewable energy; to repeal para-
   graph  (a)  of subdivision 4 of section 162 of the public service law,
   relating to electric generating facilities; and directing the New York
   state energy research and development authority to conduct a feasibil-
   ity study on nuclear small modular reactors
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Commission on reopening the Indian Point energy center. 1.
 There is hereby established the commission on reopening the Indian Point
 energy center to evaluate the cost,  feasibility,  and  impact  on  grid
 capacity of reopening the Indian Point energy center.
   2. The commission shall consist of thirteen members as follows:
   a.  the chair of the public service commission, or such chair's desig-
 nee;
   b. one member, with subject matter expertise in nuclear power,  to  be
 appointed by the governor;
   c. one member to be appointed by the speaker of the assembly;
   d. one member to be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly;
   e.  one  member  to  be  appointed  by  the temporary president of the
 senate;
   f. one member to be appointed by the minority leader of the senate;
   g. the chair of the senate energy and telecommunications committee;
   h. the ranking minority member of the senate energy  and  telecommuni-
 cations committee;
   i. the chair of the assembly energy committee;
   j. the ranking minority member of the assembly energy committee;
   k.  one  member  to be appointed by the chief executive officer of the
 New York independent system operator;
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

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 S. 9898                             2
 
   l. one member to be appointed by the largest trade association repres-
 enting electrical workers; and
   m. one member to be appointed by the largest nuclear power plant oper-
 ator in New York.
   3.  The  chief  executive  officer  of the New York independent system
 operator, or such chief executive officer's designee,  shall  be  desig-
 nated  as  the chairperson of the commission. The members of the commis-
 sion shall serve without compensation,  except  that  members  shall  be
 allowed  their necessary and actual expenses incurred in the performance
 of their duties under this act.
   4. The commission shall be authorized to hold public hearings, and  to
 consult with any organization, educational institution, or other govern-
 ment  entity  or  person,  to  enable  it to accomplish its duties. Such
 commission shall hold at least one public hearing in the state  for  the
 purpose of soliciting public comment on reopening the Indian Point ener-
 gy center.
   5.  To effectuate the purposes of this act, the commission may request
 and shall receive from any department, division, board, bureau,  commis-
 sion,  or  other  agency of the state or any state public authority such
 assistance, information, and data as will enable the commission to prop-
 erly carry out its powers and duties hereunder.
   6. The commission shall issue a report within one year of its findings
 and legislative recommendations to the  governor,  the  speaker  of  the
 assembly,  the  minority leader of the assembly, the temporary president
 of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate.
   § 2. Subdivision 12 of section 1-103 of the energy law, as  renumbered
 by chapter 820 of the laws of 1976, is amended to read as follows:
   12. "Renewable energy resources" shall include sources which are capa-
 ble  of  being continuously restored by natural or other means or are so
 large as to be useable for centuries without significant  depletion  and
 include  but  are not limited to solar, wind, plant and forest products,
 wastes, tidal, hydro, geothermal, deuterium, NUCLEAR POWER TECHNOLOGIES,
 INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO SMALL MODULAR REACTORS,  RENEWABLE  NATURAL
 GAS, BIO-FUELS and hydrogen.
   §  3. Subdivision 7 of section 119-ff of the general municipal law, as
 amended by chapter 184 of the laws  of  2020,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   7. "Renewable energy system" means an energy generating system for the
 generation  of  electric or thermal energy, to be used primarily at such
 property, except when the owner of real property is a commercial entity,
 by means of, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO solar thermal, solar photovol-
 taic, wind, geothermal, anaerobic digester  gas-to-electricity  systems,
 fuel  cell  technologies,  NUCLEAR POWER TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT
 LIMITED TO SMALL MODULAR REACTORS, RENEWABLE NATURAL GAS, BIO-FUELS,  or
 other  renewable energy technology approved by the authority not includ-
 ing the combustion or pyrolysis of solid waste.
   § 4. Subdivision 10 of section 1851 of the public authorities law,  as
 added by chapter 864 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as follows:
   10.  "New energy technologies" shall mean all methods used to produce,
 distribute, conserve and store energy by methods not in  common  commer-
 cial  use,  with  emphasis on renewable energy sources including but not
 limited to  solar,  wind,  bioconversion,  NUCLEAR  POWER  TECHNOLOGIES,
 INCLUDING  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO  SMALL MODULAR REACTORS, HYDROELECTRIC,
 RENEWABLE NATURAL GAS, BIO-FUELS, and solid waste.
 S. 9898                             3
 
   § 5. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of  section  66-p  of  the  public
 service  law,  as  amended  by section 3 of part QQ of chapter 56 of the
 laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   (b) "renewable energy systems" means systems that generate electricity
 or  thermal  energy through use of the following technologies, INCLUDING
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO: solar thermal, photovoltaics, on land  and  offshore
 wind, hydroelectric, geothermal electric, geothermal ground source heat,
 tidal  energy, wave energy, ocean thermal, NUCLEAR POWER,  INCLUDING BUT
 NOT LIMITED TO SMALL MODULAR REACTORS, RENEWABLE NATURAL GAS, BIO-FUELS,
 and fuel cells which do not utilize a fossil fuel resource in the  proc-
 ess of generating electricity.
   §  6.  Paragraph  (a)  of  subdivision  4 of section 162 of the public
 service law is REPEALED.
   § 7. Feasibility study on nuclear small modular reactors. 1.  The  New
 York  state  energy  research  and development authority, in conjunction
 with the department  of  environmental  conservation,  shall  conduct  a
 feasibility  study  and prepare a report on the benefits and implementa-
 tion of nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs). Such study shall  analyze
 the potential impacts and costs of SMRs.
   2.  Within  one  year  of the effective date of this act, the New York
 state energy research and development authority shall issue a report  of
 the  findings  of  the feasibility study to the governor, the speaker of
 the assembly, the minority leader of the assembly, the temporary  presi-
 dent of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate.
   § 8. This act shall take effect immediately.