NEW YORK: NYPA Rewards Customers for Saving Energy— The Power Authority presented checks totaling $2.25 million at a Nov. 20 luncheon here honoring some 30 large electricity customers who responded to NYPA's requests to save electricity on high-demand days last summer. With an incentive of $40 for each kilowatt (kw) saved, NYPA's Peak Load Management program, now in its third year, encouraged customers to switch off lighting, adjust air conditioning, shut down non-essential elevators, fans, pumps and motors, or turn to their own off-grid generators on some of the summer's hottest days, when electricity use was heaviest. Customers, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the city departments of Environmental Protection and Sanitation, and the city and state universities of New York, saved an average total of 57,400 kw on 12 of last summer's 27 ninety-plus-degree days. The energy savings under the program were about 8 percent more than a year ago and 12 percent more than the customers had committed to. Looking ahead to next summer, NYPA is seeking to sign up new customers for the program and add more locations of existing participants.

NORTH BLENHEIM: NYPA Cited for Habitat Preservation—The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) has recognized NYPA's Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project for its "commendable efforts toward the restoration and enhancement of wildlife habitat." Working with the State University of New York at Cobleskill's Wildlife Technology Department, the Power Authority has created and maintained on the power-project site a two-mile bluebird trail equipped with special nesting boxes to attract New York's state bird. NYPA has also developed four new wetlands, totaling about six acres, adjacent to the project's visitors center to compensate for the loss of comparable wetland acreage during stabilization work on nearby Brown Mountain, where a landslide had occurred. At the WHC's biodiversity symposium in Baltimore on Nov. 18 and 19, the Blenheim-Gilboa project received certification in a program honoring outstanding wildlife habitat management and environmental education efforts. More information about the council's habitat conservation campaign is available at www.wildlifehc.org.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: NYPA Official Calls for Licensing Reform— In testimony before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Nov. 7, a Power Authority official called for an alternative approach to hydropower relicensing to better meet the needs of applicants, power project owners and stakeholders. John Suloway, director of NYPA's licensing division, appeared in his capacity as president of the National Hydropower Association, a trade organization that has encouraged relicensing reforms, including greater public involvement earlier in the multiyear process. Suloway said incorporating elements of both the traditional and alternative licensing approaches would be the best way to handle environmental reviews, ensure flexibility and keep the process on schedule. The Power Authority, which generates more than 80 percent of its electricity from falling water, is seeking new federal licenses for its large hydropower projects on the St. Lawrence and Niagara rivers. In 1995, NYPA introduced an alternative approach that has prompted greater stakeholder participation in the relicensing of its St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project in Massena. In October, stakeholders participating in the relicensing of NYPA's Niagara Power Project in Lewiston selected a professional facilitator to assist in the effort.

COBLESKILL: DeCarlo Named Central Region Manager—
The Power Authority has designated Steven DeCarlo of Cobleskill to become its regional manager for Central New York, based at the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project in Schoharie County. He will succeed James McCarthy, who is retiring at the end of this year, in the Power Authority's top administrative post for the region. DeCarlo, operations superintendent for the Central Region, joined the Power Authority staff in 1985 as an electrical engineer in the White Plains headquarters office. He has also worked at Blenheim-Gilboa as well as the Power Authority's Charles Poletti Power Project in Queens, St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project in Massena, Niagara Power Project near Niagara Falls and Clark Energy Center in Marcy. McCarthy joined the Power Authority staff in 1980 as director of project appraisal in the New York City headquarters office. He was promoted to regional manager for Central New York in 1984.

LOWVILLE: NYPA Thanks Fire Units for Combating Blaze—The Power Authority made donations totaling $8,500 to 12 local fire departments and two of their auxiliaries on Nov. 20 as a way of saying "thanks" for their efforts in fighting a stubborn blaze last August on almost 20 acres of NYPA transmission-line right-of-way. The fire occurred on land beneath a NYPA power line near Harrisville, on the St. Lawrence-Lewis county border. During the monthly Lewis County fire coordination meeting here, the Power Authority presented $2,500 to the Harrisville department and its auxiliary, which were first responders. Fire departments from Carthage, Natural Bridge, Beaver Falls, Great Bend, Fine, Lowville, Edwards, West Carthage, the Town of Watertown, Deferiet and Croghan each received $500 grants, with the Croghan auxiliary also receiving $500.

NORTH WHITE PLAINS: NYPA Woman Achiever Honored—Janis Archer, the Power Authority's 2002 Woman Achiever, was one of 81 women honored Nov. 21 at the Salute to Women Achievers Luncheon, sponsored by the Academy of Women Achievers of the YWCA of the City of New York, at the New York Marriott Marquis. The director of product design and delivery in NYPA's Information Technology department, Archer was selected for her work designing software solutions to meet the Power Authority's business needs. A resident of North White Plains, she has volunteered with a local theater group, the Armonk players, and served as a troop leader with the Girl Scouts of Westchester and Putnam counties, and on the board of the Valhalla Ambulance Corps. Archer is a member of the Friends of North Castle Library and was elected last year to serve a three-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Our Lady of Good Counsel, the high school she attended in White Plains.

In the Community: The Power Authority's White Plains office played host to a meeting of the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation, Nov. 19….The International Joint Commission met at the Niagara Power Project visitors center to discuss Lake Ontario regulations, Lewiston, Nov. 15…Seth Leitman, market development and policy specialist, spoke to the Harrison Rotary Club on NYPA's electric transportation program, Nov. 13.…The Health Association of Niagara County, Inc., held a meeting at the Niagara project's visitors center, Nov. 12….NYPA's White Plains employees donated 24 cartons of food to the Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry, which feeds about a thousand people a month in the Westchester County area.