BETHPAGE: Electric Vehicles Roam Long Island ‘Green Zone’— Like woodland creatures, the electric maintenance vehicles now roaming the grounds of Long Island’s Bethpage State Park move quickly and quietly. The 1,500-acre property, which includes five regulation golf courses, recently received 12 all-electric Toro Workman utility vehicles through the New York Power Authority’s Green Zone program. By agreeing to substitute old fossil-fueled vehicles and equipment with new non-polluting replacements, Green Zone participants help reduce noise and air pollution while lessening their dependence on petroleum products. NYPA has seven Green Zones established around the state, with additional sites expected as parks, campuses and other restricted-access areas join the program, which provides partial reimbursement for investments in clean-fuel technologies. Besides helping fund the purchase of the 12 utility vehicles, the Power Authority also provided an electric car to Bethpage State Park, which will be the site of the U.S. Open in 2009.

TUPPER LAKE: Tri-Lakes Study Comments Being Accepted— NYPA will accept written or e-mailed comments until Jan. 31 on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tri-Lakes Reliability Project, a planned power line. The public could make comments in-person on the DEIS during a State Environmental Quality Review Act hearing earlier this month in Tupper Lake. The villages of Lake Placid and Tupper Lake are working with NYPA and National Grid to ease electric reliability problems in the Tri-Lakes Region with plans to build a new power line in the area. A permit application and the DEIS have been filed with the Adirondack Park Agency. Both documents are available for viewing at municipal offices in the Tri-Lakes Region, at local libraries and on the Internet at www.nypa.gov. Comments on the DEIS may be mailed to Steve Ramsey, New York Power Authority, Blenheim-Gilboa Visitors Center, 1378 State Route 30, North Blenheim, N.Y., 12131, or e-mailed to: steve.ramsey@nypa.gov . All written or emailed comments must be received by Jan. 31.

LEWISTON: $8 Million Allocated to Niagara Power Coalition– Local governments and school districts in the immediate vicinity of the Power Authority’s Niagara Power Project received a total of $8 million in late December as part of the upfront portion of an agreement with the Niagara Power Coalition for the relicensing of the 2.4 million-kilowatt hydroelectric power project, the largest electricity producer in the state. “These initial payments reflect the partnership we’ve formed with the host communities for the Niagara Project’s relicensing,” said Frederick Chase, NYPA’s executive director, hydro relicensing. “The relicensing agreement with the Niagara Power Coalition reflects the Power Authority’s continuing commitment to give back to the neighboring communities as part of our responsible stewardship of this major generating project, whose low-cost power is integral to Western New York’s economy.” Included in the agreement are the Niagara Falls City School District, the City of Niagara Falls, the Lewiston-Porter Central School District, the Town of Lewiston, the Niagara-Wheatfield Central School District, the Town of Niagara and Niagara County. NYPA’s agreement with the Niagara Power Coalition also includes $5 million in annual payments to the host communities, beginning after the Niagara Project is issued a new 50-year operating license. The current license expires in August 2007.

NEW YORK CITY: NYPA Sows Seeds of Learning in Queens— The Power Authority will help to grow a “literacy garden” for youngsters at P.S. 84, an elementary school in Astoria, Queens. “The garden will help beautify the school and the neighborhood, and provide students with a better learning experience,” said Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, who requested funding from NYPA on behalf of the school. The “literacy garden” will add at least one outdoor classroom, and will be used for a range of activities including read-aloud story time and scientific exploration and observation. The garden will be larger than many of the classrooms in the 103-year-old school, giving youngsters an opportunity to spread out with their materials during learning time. The $2,000 in NYPA funds will pay for materials, while all work will be performed, at no cost, through the volunteer efforts of the community, parents, students, teachers and administrators.

WHITE PLAINS: Surplus NYPA Computers Meet School Needs—The Power Authority in 2005 contributed more than 90 “low-mileage” computer systems to schools across the state as part of the New York State Education Department’s program to distribute used computer equipment throughout the educational environment. During the year surplus NYPA computers were received by h schools in Niagara Falls, the Bronx, Queens, Cheektowaga and in Oneida County; and to public libraries in Massena, Waddington, Middleburgh, Schoharie County and Mount Vernon. The computers are distributed under the Education Department’s Computer Recycling for Education and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) program, launched in 1996 to direct the flow of surplus state-owned and privately donated computers to schools needing the equipment.

NEW WINDSOR: School Honors NYPA for Katrina Relief Help— The New Windsor School, part of the Newburgh Enlarged City School District, recognized the Power Authority for assisting with the “Community Giving” initiative that resulted in books and school items being sent to children who were victims of Hurricane Katrina. The “kids to kids” effort was coordinated by the school’s Parent Teacher Organization in association with the Newburgh Free Academy’s ROTC program. Sobeida Cruz, NYPA’s director of public and governmental affairs for the lower Hudson Valley, accepted the recognition during a school assembly.

In the Community: Staff members from the Niagara Power Project in Lewiston demonstrated an electric-drive vehicle at the Tech Wars 2006, a technology competition for middle- and high-school students held at the Niagara County Community College, Sanborn, Jan. 11…More than 100 people attended the free movies screened at the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project Hawkins Point Visitors Center in Massena during the holiday school vacation days, Dec. 27-29…Employees at the St. Lawrence-FDR project participated in the annual North Country food drive and raised more than $3,100 which went to four local charities to benefit needy families during the holidays.