Testimony

Testimony of the New York Power Authority to the New York State Advisory Panel on Transportation Policy for 2025, at the New York State Department of Transportation, 50 Wolf Road, Albany, New York.

August 5, 2004

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is the nation’s largest state-owned energy provider. NYPA owns and operates 17 power projects and 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines, one-third of New York’s high-voltage system. NYPA supplies economical electricity to municipal electric systems and rural electric cooperatives, to governmental entities in southeastern New York and to private sector enterprises across the state. NYPA energy efficiency services help schools and other public facilities conserve 823,800 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, saving $85.9 million each year. NYPA is also New York State’s leading supplier of renewable power, investing in the stewardship of its emission-free, renewable hydropower resources as well as wind power, solar energy, fuel cells and other advanced energy technologies.

NYPA is pleased to participate in this series of public forums because the Authority is also significantly involved in the development and deployment of electric drive transportation and other environmentally beneficial transportation technologies.

Under the leadership of Governor George E. Pataki, the Empire State has attained national prominence in the areas of energy efficiency, clean transportation initiatives, and aggressive strategies to improve air quality. NYPA has been proud to play a role in the implementation of Governor Pataki’s efforts to enhance environmental quality and improve national energy independence.

Overall, America spends one-hundred billion dollars annually on imported oil. Fully two thirds of the petroleum used in our country goes to the transportation sector. Emissions from the cars and trucks are reported to account for about half of all air pollution and more than eighty percent of the urban air pollution.

The U.S. Department of Energy forecasts that daily oil consumption will rise by 25.8 million barrels per day by the year 2020. America’s demand for oil is expected to increase by nearly 50% over then next twenty years.

While the level of oil consumed and its environmental effects are daunting, there are signs of change on the horizon. Earlier this year the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the number of alternative fuel vehicles in the United States has more than doubled since 1995. Vehicles powered by natural gas, electricity, liquefied petroleum or corn-based ethanol totaled nearly five-hundred-and eleven thousand vehicles in 2003, compared with only two-hundred and forty-seven thousand in 1995.

Among the 50 states, New York ranked third in the number of alternative fuel vehicles on the roadways. Only California and Texas have more AFV’s on their roadways. However, Empire State has seen greater growth in AFV’s than either California or Texas in recent years. From 2001 to 2003, New York’s AFV’s increased by 39.7 percent, compared to California’s growth rate of 17.2 percent and Texas at 2.5 percent.

It is important to note that the federal data on Alternative Fuel Vehicles do not include mass transit. Metropolitan New York’s subway and commuter trains, the largest urban rail system in the United States, provides energy efficient transportation for an average 7.7 million commuters each weekday. Those trains run on electricity supplied by the New York Power Authority.

Beyond its leadership in mass transit, New York State has embarked on a comprehensive strategy to further the increase of alternative fuels in transportation. New York has consistently maintained conformity with strict vehicle emission standards and instituted an array of initiatives including tax credits for clean-fueled vehicles and bond act financing for AFV’s in mass transit and government fleets. In addition, Governor Pataki has ordered state agencies to purchase an increasing percentage of alternative fuel vehicles—50 percent by 2005 and 100 percent by 2010.

In his 2004 State of the State Message, Governor Pataki proposed that “every new public school bus run on clean fuel” and has offered legislation designed to achieve that goal. New York State has assumed a leadership role in addressing the issue of school bus emissions with the $5 million Clean Air School Bus Program funded by the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act and the $6 million School Bus Emission Offset Project administered by NYPA.

In 2000, NYPA became the first electric utility in the Northeast to achieve the million-mile mark for electric drive vehicles in its transportation program. By 2003 those vehicles had traveled more than 3.3 million miles.

NYPA launched a “Clean Commute” project, the nation’s largest electric vehicle station-car demonstration, established a partnership to help the state’s municipal and rural electric cooperatives systems purchase electric and hybrid electric vehicles and helped deploy hundreds of zero-emission neighborhood vehicles at state university campuses, parks and government facilities across the state.

To date, NYPA has helped place more than 700 electric and hybrid eclectic vehicles in service. In 2003, NYPA teamed with Daimler Chrysler and Ford to place more than 300 neighborhood electric vehicles with county and municipal governments and the state university campuses where these vehicles have displaced conventionally fueled vehicles to transport workers, staff and students. A number of these vehicles are now used by law enforcement in specialized patrol functions.

In the area of service delivery, an application for which zero-emission, electric vehicles are both well suited and well received, NYPA has partnered with the United State Postal Service to place 30 delivery trucks into duty in the Bronx and mid-town Manhattan. Eight two-ton delivery trucks have just entered the Postal Service fleet in the Bronx.

NYPA programs have also demonstrated the viability of electric school buses, with two buses in service in New York City. We unveiled one of the nation’s first anti-idling truck-stop electrification projects at the Hunts Point market. The service provides climate control systems and electrical hook-ups at 28 parking bays so drivers can power on-board appliances and refrigerated trucks without running their engines. The New York State Thruway Authority and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) have likewise taken innovative steps with truck-stop electrification projects in Upstate New York.

NYPA has teamed with NYSERDA to pioneer the purchase of the hybrid-electric buses for New York City Transit in the mid-1990’s. The successful project led the transit authority to purchase 325 production model buses—the largest hybrid-electric bus order in the nation.

NYPA is developing a Green Zone pilot project where all the service support vehicles in designated areas such as college campuses, public parks and industrial complexes will be emission free, electric drive vehicles.

Looking further down the road, NYPA, NYSERDA and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) are jointly funding the New York State Hydrogen Roadmap to outline key issues and challenges in developing hydrogen energy and take an inventory of New York companies that are developing hydrogen-related technology. The National Hydrogen Association, whose membership includes energy, automobile and aerospace companies, is also involved in the nine-month road map project.

As these remarks illustrate, the Empire State has undertaken a diverse array of programs and policies to provide clean-fuel transportation options for the people of the State of New York. The New York Power Authority encourages this panel to build upon the success of these initiatives as you strive to address the challenging issues facing New York State’s transportation future.