ALBANY: Governor: Low-Cost Power Helps Create, Retain Jobs— Six companies across the state will create 237 new jobs and secure 798 existing ones with the help of low-cost NYPA electricity under various economic development programs, Gov. George E. Pataki announced on Sept. 18. The Power Authority has approved allocations of Economic Development Power to Granny's Kitchens, a wholesale bakery in Frankfort, Herkimer County; and Middleport Cold Storage, a fruit-processing and -storage company in Niagara County. The Ullman Company, a Hauppague, Suffolk County, manufacturer of plastic packaging, and Brooklyn's Ultra-Flex Packaging, Inc., which produces plastic tableware, will receive electricity through a program that reserves industrial power for use in Southeastern New York. Allocations to the Green Island Power Authority in Albany County for Reliable Brothers, Inc., a meat processor, and to the Village of Frankfort Electric Department for the F.E. Hale Manufacturing Co., a wood furniture maker, will come from a block of power set aside for economic development in the state's municipal and rural cooperative electric systems. Overall, Power Authority electricity helps protect some 420,000 jobs statewide, an increase of 250,000 since 1994.

NEW YORK: PLM Program Helps Meet Summer Power Needs— Power Authority electricity customers in Southeastern New York bettered their commitments to conserve electricity on this summer's hottest, most energy-stressed days by 12 percent under NYPA's growing Peak Load Management (PLM) program. Customer efforts at 59 locations reduced power demands on 12 days by an average of more than 57 megawatts—as much as the output of a small generating plant. Customers including the New York City government, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, city and state university campuses and selected businesses shut off or dimmed non-essential lighting, adjusted air conditioning settings, shut down non-essential elevators, fans, pumps or motors, or turned on their own generators. This year's PLM effort was coordinated with a new statewide energy-conservation drive established by Gov. George E. Pataki and implemented by state energy agencies, the Long Island Power Authority and NYPA. Energy savings achieved through the PLM program and other NYPA conservation measures represented about a third of the statewide total.

WATERTOWN: Pataki Announces Fiber-Optic System Expansion— Gov. George E. Pataki announced here on Sept. 20 that the Power Authority will provide $2.5 million to expand a high-tech fiber-optic network in the North Country, enhancing telecommunications services and promoting job creation and economic growth. The funding will help support the $14.9 million Regional Fiber Optic System, created by the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC) to attract competitive carriers of telecommunications services and telecom-intensive businesses by relieving them of high infrastructure costs. The network will eventually reach 400 miles across DANC's service area in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, with connections to major transmission facilities to the south and north opening new markets in Canada and throughout the United States to North Country businesses. The system will be leased to private-sector carriers, which will provide commercial services such as long-distance and internet access, and to institutions like schools, local governments and hospitals for internal intranet uses.

BROCKPORT: Fast Track Ensures Heating at SUNY Campus—Shortly after the State University of New York at Brockport took ownership last spring of a downtown Rochester building for its growing classroom needs, its single, aging boiler failed. NYPA, which had retrofitted lighting throughout the main campus, 16 miles west on the Erie Canal, and is analyzing the 435-acre, 66-building campus's potential for additional energy efficiency improvements, came to the rescue by installing a new boiler at the classroom complex before the fall heating season. A NYPA team accelerated the process of obtaining approvals, drawing plans and specifications, bidding and procuring materials and equipment, and work began early in August. The $500,000 unit, scheduled to begin operation by October, is projected to reduce SUNY Brockport's energy costs by nearly $12,000 annually.

HERE AND THERE: 160,000 New Yorkers 'Keep Cool'—
Early results indicate that the 2002 Keep Cool Bounty Program, a statewide partnership between NYPA, the Long Island Power Authority and the state's Energy Research and Development Authority, has exceeded expectations. With final numbers still being tallied, the program's organizers reported on Sept. 24 that 160,000 New Yorkers have participated in the initiative, replacing old, inefficient air conditioners with new ENERGY STAR models, which come with a $75 bounty. Besides providing an immediate financial incentive, the program has enabled participants to save an average of $35 annually on their electricity bills; the new air conditioners also produce fewer emissions, helping to clean the air. NYPA Chairman Louis P. Ciminelli helped publicize the results at an appliance store in Amherst, near Buffalo, while President and Chief Executive Officer Eugene W. Zeltmann provided program details at a retail site in Colonie, outside Albany. Announcements were also made in Binghamton, Rochester and Syracuse and on Long Island.

ALBANY: Pataki Names NYPA Chairman to Head EDPAB—Gov. George E. Pataki has announced the appointment of Power Authority Chairman Louis P. Ciminelli as chairman of the New York State Economic Development Power Allocation Board (EDPAB). Ciminelli, a prominent Western New York businessman, has been on the NYPA board of trustees since 1995 and was elected chairman in April 2002. EDPAB solicits, receives and evaluates applications for lower-cost electricity in a variety of state energy initiatives, including the Governor's Power for Jobs program, and then makes recommendations to NYPA.

RYE BROOK: NYPA Honored at Brotherhood Breakfast—
The Power Authority was honored for its contributions to the African-American community at the 12th Annual Brotherhood Breakfast, co-hosted by the African American Men of Westchester and the Westchester County Association at the Rye Town Hilton on Sept. 20. Accepting the Corporate Leadership Award, NYPA President and CEO Eugene W. Zeltmann cited the Power Authority's efforts to purchase millions of dollars a year in products and services from minority- and women-owned firms.

In the Community: A NYPA exhibit was on view at the annual meeting of the New York State Business Council, Saratoga Springs, Sept. 18-20….Ed Szpala, the Niagara Power Project's construction superintendent, gave a presentation on the project's upgrade at a workshop conducted by the Lake Erie and Ontario Sawyers and Filers Association at the Power Vista visitors center, Lewiston, Sept. 20….Ed Hubert, NYPA's director of transmission, and Dave Neary, its safety, health and fire protection administrator, presented checks for $6,000 and $2,500, respectively, to the Maynard and the Prospect fire departments, which are the first to respond to emergencies at the Clark Energy Center, Marcy, and the Gregory B. Jarvis Plant, Hinckley, Sept. 20….The Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project's visitors center was the venue of a Schoharie County Chamber of Commerce meeting, North Blenheim, Sept. 17.