NEW YORK: NYPA-Co-funded Hybrid-Electric Buses on the Way— The Power Authority's 10-year-long effort to promote and help fund the development of heavy-duty hybrid-electric transit buses for MTA-New York City Transit will start paying off this fall, when the first of 325 quiet low-floor diesel-electric models start rolling throughout the city. NYPA provided close to $5 million in funding and helped arrange a partnership between Oriskany-based Orion Bus and Johnson City's BAE Systems to manufacture the buses, which produce 97 percent less monoxide, 95 percent fewer particulates, half the nitrogen oxide and a third fewer greenhouse gases than standard diesel models. The first buses are expected to arrive from Orion in October and all 325 within two years.

NORTH BLENHEIM: NYPA Helps Re-create Battle of Cobleskill— In the late spring of 1778, a large party of British loyalists and their Native American allies attacked the frontier settlement of Cobleskill as part of the protracted struggle in Central New York during the American Revolution. On the weekend of May 31-June 1, in the woods and fields surrounding the Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project's historic Lansing Manor, some 300 re-enactors will stage the battle again. The Burning of the Valleys Military Association and other Revolutionary War buffs will organize two days of skirmishes and war games over the site's 400 acres, with the public welcome, behind safety lines, to witness the action, as well as a formal 18th-century ladies' tea and demonstrations of treatment for wounded troops. They'll be invited to join in re-created Committee of Public Safety meetings and an ecumenical worship service on Sunday morning. Lansing Manor, a stately pre-Civil War home operated as an admission-free museum, is just off Route 30, some 20 miles south of Cobleskill. It is part of a complex of educational, recreational and conservation facilities developed by NYPA on the project's grounds. Information: www.bvma.org.

CATO: NYPA Sponsorship Boosts Students' Solar-Powered Car— With the help of the Power Authority, technology students at Cato-Meridian High School demonstrate the potential of clean-fueled vehicles each spring in the Tour de Sol road rally, described by organizers as The Great American Green Transportation  Festival. Some 35 entries, including the Cayuga County high school's Sunpacer solar-powered car, raced from New Jersey to Washington, D.C., May 10-14. This year, the students used a NYPA donation to buy new nickel-metal-hydride batteries, which weigh less while providing more horsepower than the previous batteries, thus enabling the Sunpacer to travel farther and faster on a charge of electricity generated by an on-board solar panel. Power Authority staff members have also provided technical support to the high school students, who have won eight national titles in 12 Tour de Sol contests. More information, including race results, is available at the website of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association ( www.nesea.org ).

NEW YORK: Power Supply Seen as Adequate for Summer Peak— Barring extreme weather and unplanned interruptions in generation or transmission, New York and New England should be able to maintain reliable electric service during the summer, according to the Northeast Power Coordinating Council, which tracks power production and demand trends. To meet New York State's predicted summer peak of 31,430 megawatts (mw), some 786 mw higher than last summer's, the NPCC factored in the contributions of load response programs such as NYPA's Peak Load Management program, which rewards customer that reduce their power use or switch on standby generation on request. The NPCC also assumed the addition of new capacity from two small power plants, in Queens and Stony Brook, Long Island, and a larger plant in upstate Athens.

LEWISTON: NYPA Honors Security Officer for Volunteerism— Dale Henry, a security officer at the Niagara Power Project, was selected as the Power Authority's 2003 Volunteer of the Year in recognition of his activities on behalf of the Tuscarora Indian Nation. Born and raised a Tuscarora, Henry earned the Indian name Ra Neh De Rah Nah, or He Who Helps, in appreciation for his work with both young and old on the reservation, including ferrying seniors to doctors' appointments, helping with the senior center's annual fundraising events and coaching youth basketball. Henry will be honored at the Friends of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Recognition Luncheon on June 3 at the Tavern on the Green in New York City. The Power Authority will donate $1,000 to Henry's favorite charity.

NORTH BLENHEIM: NYPA Hosts Capital Region Envirothon— C.A. Bouton High School in Voorheesville took home the grand prize when students from seven high schools and three counties competed in the Capital Region Envirothon, at the Power Authority's Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project visitors center on May 8. Envirothons—the environmental sciences’ answer to the spelling bee—are daylong hands-on competitions that test students’ problem-solving abilities in the areas of forestry, aquatics, soil, and current environmental issues. NYPA also co-sponsored the Northern Adirondacks Region Envirothon at Paul Smith's College, Paul Smiths, on May 6, as well as envirothons in Oneida County and Babylon, Long Island, earlier in the spring. The regional winners will compete in the statewide envirothon at the State University of New York at Morrisville on May 28 and 29.

In the Community: Power Authority staff members demonstrated electric or hybrid-electric vehicles for students at Hillside Elementary School, Hastings, May 9; the Lincoln Titus School, Cortlandt Manor, May 2; and Adlai Stevenson High School in the Bronx, April 29….Terryl Moreland, marketing consultant, gave a presentation on careers in the electric utility industry at Rachel Carson Intermediate School, Flushing, May 14….NYPA has temporarily closed the public fishing facilities near the base of its Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, Lewiston, as a result of several incidents of falling rocks along an access road. Access to the road will be limited to essential personnel and vehicles during work to help stabilize an adjacent rock wall.