Hydro Applications May Start In June

MASSENA - Groups hoping to snag a piece of the $16 million or 20 megawatts of hydropower promised by the New York Power Authority may be able to apply for allocations as early as June, officials say.

NYPA President and CEO Richard M. Kessel and Local Government Task Force Chairman Robert O. McNeil said a closed door negotiating session held late last week has allowed both groups to resolve most of their concerns about how the money and power would be managed.

Mr. Kessel hopes to have an agreement finalized in time for consideration at a Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for May 25 in Elmira. Deadlines for the board's March 23 meeting are too close at hand to be feasible and the board does not hold a meeting in April, the NYPA head noted.

"I think we resolved most of the issues," Mr. Kessel said. "It was a great meeting, and I think it accomplished what we needed it to accomplish. The plan is to present it to the board at our May meeting and hopefully have things in place by June 1."

Mr. McNeil said the meeting helped to address a number of concerns the task force had raised about an initial offer from NYPA, which included an agreement to turn over the $16 million in three installments over the next year but did not appear to address how or when the community would have access to the power allocation.

Since officials have estimated the power allocation could be worth millions, task force members were alarmed that it was not included in NYPA's initial proposal and voiced worries that the power authority may not be willing to work with them after all.

Based on the initial contract proposal, task force members had also feared they might be at loggerheads with NYPA over their proposal to monetize, or sell into the open market, any portion of the 20 megawatts they were not immediately able to allocate to companies or projects.

The task force had voted to send a negotiating team comprised of Mr. McNeil, Task Force attorney Eric J. Gustafson and Andrew J. McMahon to discuss their concerns with NYPA and find some way to ensure the funds and power were made available as soon as possible.

The negotiating team was joined at the Thursday meeting by Mr. Kessel and several other NYPA representatives, as well as St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency representatives Ernest LaBaff, Raymond Fountain and Patrick Kelly.

Officials on both sides of the table said they were relieved to hear many of their concerns addressed during the session and positive progress made toward establishing the RVRDA and giving it the assets to begin distributing in the North Country.

"It was a very productive meeting, and we will be reporting back to the task force on our discussions," Mr. McNeil said Monday. "Mr. Kessel understood our proposal and was very supportive. I was pleasantly surprised and I think the task force will be pleasantly surprised as well."

Following the meeting, Mr. Kessel directed members of his staff to sit down with Mr. Gustafson and jointly draft a contract that would authorize the creation of the proposed St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency to manage the funds and power, turn over control of the assets to that agency, spell out cooperative arrangements with the county IDA and provide for accountability for the new agency, among other things.

Once the contract is complete, it will go before the task force and the NYPA board for their consideration. Each of the municipalities included in the relicensing agreement - the villages of Massena and Waddington, the towns of Louisville, Lisbon, Massena and Waddington and St. Lawrence County - will need to sign off on the agreement before it can be finalized.

Mr. McNeil said the contract will be presented and explained to each of the municipalities for their consideration once it is completed.

"Once everyone agrees to adopt it, and the power authority agrees to it, we'll be off and running," he said. "The RVRDA can take over and the money will flow to us."