ASTORIA: NYPA to Fund Alliance for Cleaning Queens Air—The Power Authority is helping form an alliance of community and environmental groups dedicated to improving air quality and public health in northwest Queens. During a July 15 kick-off at NYPA's Charles Poletti Power Project, Power Authority President and CEO Eugene Zeltmann pledged $2 million to fund the Queens Clean Air Project (QCAP), aimed at developing strategies to help reduce air pollution and promote energy efficiency in the local community. QCAP partners include the Natural Resources Defense Council, the New York Public Interest Research Group, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Northeast States Clean Air Foundation and the Queens Borough President's Office. To view QCAP's request for proposals, due by Sept. 15, visit: www.cleanaircommunities.org.

PEEKSKILL: NYPA Concert to Open Peekskill Celebration 2003—A three-day festival highlighting Peekskill's revitalized economy and rich Hudson River heritage will kick off with a Power Authority-sponsored concert on Friday, Aug. 1. Peekskill Celebration 2003 will continue on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 2 and 3, with a range of activities at Riverfront Green Park and in downtown Peekskill, including musical performances, carnival rides, river excursions, arts-and-crafts vendors, educational exhibits, Underground Railroad tours and a Saturday-night fireworks display. The 1950s band The Grass Roots, with lead singer Rob Grill, will perform on opening night, starting at 7:15 p.m. (a warm-up act, Jigsaww, will begin at 6 p.m.), courtesy of the Power Authority. Most festival activities are free or have a nominal charge. NYPA has been a major sponsor of the event since its inception seven years ago. For more information, visit: www.peekskillcelebration.com

WHITE PLAINS: NYPA Web Site Upgrades Data, Graphics—The Power Authority's Internet site has undergone a major facelift to make it more informative and easier to use. Regional subsections summarize NYPA's various activities—involving economic development, energy efficiency, new energy technologies, and power-plant and visitors-center operations—in the North Country and Western, Central and Southeastern New York regions. More in-depth information reflects the Power Authority's increasing emphasis on energy services projects, pioneering generation and transmission technologies NYPA is developing, and other environmentally beneficial initiatives. Come visit us at www.nypa.gov .

NIAGARA FALLS: Public Meeting to Review Relicensing Data— Since January, more than 100 stakeholders have been working with the Power Authority to identify issues associated with the relicensing of the Niagara Power Project, New York State's largest electric generating facility. These efforts will result in the issuance of a report known as Scoping Document 1, which will define the scope of an Applicant-Prepared Environmental Assessment that NYPA will submit to federal and state regulators. Scoping Document 1 will be posted on NYPA's relicensing website (http://niagara.nypa.gov). Copies will also be made available at local libraries. Two public meetings to solicit additional stakeholder and community input have been set for Aug. 13, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., in the Niagara Falls High School Amphitheater, 4455 Porter Road, Niagara Falls. The Niagara project's original 50-year federal license expires in 2007.

BROOKLYN: Emissions, Energy Costs Cut at Public Facility—One of the Power Authority's latest energy services projects will help save New York City $12,000 in annual energy costs while reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. NYPA contractors have replaced 50-year-old boilers at 345 Adams Street, a city-owned building housing the Brooklyn Civil Court, the city's Departments of Finance and Probation, the Board of Elections, the Children's Services Administration and other agencies. The $3.5 million project, initiated a year ago, included the installation of a new hot water system and the addition of a new fuel tank. As part of its energy partnership agreement with the city, NYPA has invested more than $450 million in energy conservation programs in the five boroughs, in one of the largest programs of its type in the nation.

WHITE PLAINS: Contract Extensions Sought by Public Systems— The Power Authority will hold a public hearing on Aug. 19 to consider proposed contract extensions for the 51 municipal and rural cooperative electric systems that purchase low-cost hydroelectric power from NYPA's Niagara Power Project. The current sales agreements for the public entities became effective in 1986; in 1991, NYPA trustees extended the agreements until 2013. If the trustees authorize new extensions, which were requested by the customers to assure continued supplies of Niagara hydropower, the contracts would run until 2025, provided that NYPA obtains a new federal license for the Niagara project. The public hearing will be held at the Authority's White Plains office, 123 Main St., starting at 11 a.m.

In The Community: The Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project's visitors center was scheduled to play host to the Capital Region's Antique Bottle, Insulator and Table-Top Collectibles Outdoor Swap Meet, North Blenheim, July 26….NYPA sponsored an Edgar Winters concert as part of the 2003 Summer Series on the Empire State Plaza, Albany, July 23….A record 7,300 people attended the Schoharie Valley Antique Auto Show at the Blenheim-Gilboa project's visitors center, North Blenheim, July 20….Students at P.S. 84, Brooklyn, received a delivery of refurbished computers from the Power Authority through its statewide program to donate surplus equipment to schools in the vicinity of NYPA facilities, July 17….The Power Authority donated 15 electric-drive vehicles from Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) to government customers in Peekskill on July 11 and in Ossining on July 15 as part of NYPA's efforts to promote clean transportation….Two seniors at Townsend Harris High School, Queens, each received a $1,500 Jennifer Wong Memorial Scholarship award during graduation ceremonies, June 25. The Power Authority established the scholarship program in memory of a victim of the World Trade Center attacks who was the daughter of a NYPA project manager.