NEW YORK: Hot Weather Triggers Demand-Reduction Program—The Power Authority’s six-year-old Peak Load Management (PLM) program, intended to lower peak summer electrical demand by NYPA’s New York City business and governmental customers, has already helped guard against possible power interruptions on several days in June. Participants achieve the power cutbacks, at NYPA’s request, by operating their own on-site generators or taking measures such as turning off nonessential lighting and computers, adjusting air-conditioner settings and running fewer elevators. A total of 14 customers are participating in the PLM program at 87 locations. Together, they’ve committed to cut back on their electricity use by a total of 60 megawatts (enough power to serve about 60,000 homes). Among those participating are the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the City University of New York and Citibank. The Power Authority pays participating customers $40 for each kilowatt of electricity they commit to reduce when called upon during the hot-weather months.

MASSENA: Hawkins Point Visitors Center Opens to Public— First came a sneak preview on June 3 for participants in Massena’s Heritage Festival Weekend. On June 6, schoolchildren and tour groups gained guided access through advance reservations. And on Monday, June 20, the general public will be able to view NYPA’s new Hawkins Point Visitors Center at the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project. An official dedication is planned in July. The $5 million facility offers interactive exhibits about electricity and a panoramic view of the hydroelectric project. In building the 14,000-square-foot center, NYPA also increased parking, improved boating access and added a handicapped-accessible fishing pier at Hawkins Point, a recreational facility located in Robert Moses State Park. The Power Authority developed the park in the 1950s during construction of the St. Lawrence-FDR project. From June 20 through Oct. 10 (Columbus Day), the admission-free visitors center will be open to the public seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information or to schedule a tour, call 800-262 NYPA (6972) in New York State or (315) 764-0226, ext. 304, for out-of-state callers.

WHITE PLAINS: Purchasing Exchange Aids Minority Firms—Representatives of more than 100 minority- and women-owned businesses took part in the Power Authority’s 15th Annual Purchasing Exchange at NYPA’s headquarters here on June 2. Thirty-eight other companies also participated in the event, designed to help qualified suppliers identify and pursue business opportunities with large customers. In addition to NYPA, participants included large corporations, trade associations, utilities, and government agencies and authorities in New York State and New York City. Since 1983, the Power Authority’s Supplier Diversity Program has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in NYPA contracts, and other significant opportunities, for minority- and women-owned enterprises. For more information, log on to www.nypa.gov

ALBANY: NYPA President Zeltmann Re-elected EPRI Chairman—Eugene Zeltmann, the Power Authority’s president and chief executive officer, has been re-elected to a second one-year term as chairman of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the power industry’s international research and technology organization. Zeltmann’s term on EPRI’s 32-member board of directors also was extended for one year. He joined the board in 2001, representing the public-power sector. “This is a time of critical importance for the electric power industry in this country and worldwide,” Zeltmann said. “The challenge of balancing growing energy needs and environmental concerns has never been greater. EPRI is uniquely positioned to meet that challenge and to provide major benefits to the industry and to society.” During Zeltmann’s tenure as chairman, EPRI has, among many other initiatives, worked on programs to improve transmission system reliability and to combat global warming.

QUEENS: NYPA Helps Back Independence Day Celebration— Power Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Eugene Zeltmann has presented a $30,000 NYPA contribution to the Central Astoria Local Development Coalition to help fund the coalition’s annual Independence Day Celebration, to be held Friday evening, July 1, in Astoria Park. Julian Wager, president of the coalition, accepted the contribution on May 25 at NYPA’s Charles Poletti Power Project in Astoria. The celebration, a Queens tradition for more than two decades, is dedicated this year to Astoria as an international cultural mosaic. The action at the park will start at 7 p.m. with music by Lenny Coco and the Chimes, and Joe Battaglia and the New York Big Band, the featured act. Fireworks will follow at about 9:15 p.m. NYPA, a Queens neighbor since the mid-1970s, has also provided community support by investing nearly $80 million in high-efficiency lighting and other energy improvements at 188 Queens schools, hospitals and other government facilities and by contributing $2 million to the Queens Clean Air Project for innovative neighborhood energy-efficiency projects.

NORTH BLENHEIM: Car Show Benefits Sheriff’s Drug Program—Several thousand classic car buffs turned out for the annual D.A.R.E. Car Show on June 12 at the Power Authority’s Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project visitors center, helping to raise money for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program of the Schoharie County Sheriff’s Department. About 300 classic automobiles from the 1950s to the 1970s, as well as custom cars and street rods, were on view throughout the grounds of the visitors center and the adjacent Lansing Manor historic mansion. An even larger gathering, the Schoharie Valley Antique Auto Show, featuring antique autos dating to the early 1900s, is scheduled at the same location on July 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Animal Shelter of the Schoharie Valley. Admission is $3 per person, with no charge for children under 7. The visitors center is located on Route 30 about 17 miles south of Middleburgh and five miles north of Grand Gorge.

In the Community: Power Authority Speakers Bureau members spoke to students at the Lincoln-Titus elementary school, Crompond, June 14; and the Springhurst elementary school, Dobbs Ferry, June 10; and to Verizon’s Whitman Group, Jamaica, Queens, June 7.…More than 100 people attended an open house on plans for a new power line to improve the reliability of electric service in the Tri-Lakes Region and surrounding communities in the Adirondacks Park, Tupper Lake, June 10. The Power Authority will apply for permits for the 46-kilovolt power line and Niagara Mohawk will build it.…NYPA displayed an electric-drive vehicle at the Astoria Health Fair, Queens, June 4.