Executive Speeches

Timothy S. Carey, president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority, offered the following remarks to a New York State Assembly public hearing on the policies and practices of the Olympic Regional Development Authority and the New York Power Authority, conducted in Albany, New York on July 11, 2006.

I appreciate the invitation to testify today in order to help correct misinformation reported about the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) and the New York Power Authority (NYPA). ORDA and NYPA have worked together to serve the people of the State of New York by making the Winter Olympic facilities of the Empire State more energy efficient and by helping to promote Lake Placid as the “Winter Sports Capital of the World.

NYPA is proud of the small role it has played in promoting the Empire State’s pre-eminent winter sports venue. The fact that our state is home to the Winter Sports Capital of the World should be a source of pride for all New Yorkers. Every effort must be made to sustain and enhance the vitality of New York’s Olympic assets.

New York State’s commitment to Lake Placid is not simply a matter of dollars and cents, although the economic impact is significant and certainly worthy of sustained support. The Empire State’s commitment to Lake Placid as the Winter Sports Capital of the World is both a tribute to the honored tradition of past Olympics and an essential investment in future Olympians – both the young athletes who train at Lake Plaid’s Olympic facilities and the youngsters who gain inspiration from their visits to its extraordinary sporting venues.

I think it is noteworthy that the Olympic authority’s facilities also host the annual Empire State Winter Games, which has allowed thousands of young athletes from across the state to compete at these impressive historic venues. I am told that twenty-one members of America’s 2006 Winter Olympics Team were past participants in the Empire State Games.

The New York Power Authority is the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility, with 18 generating facilities in various parts of the state and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. The Authority operates without the use of tax dollars or state credit, financing its operations with revenues earned from sales of electricity and through the sale of bonds and notes for capital projects.  We supply electricity to government agencies, community-owned electric systems and rural electric cooperatives, private utilities and to private sector businesses and non-profit institutions in return for commitments to protect jobs. I am also proud to note that NYPA is a leader in promoting energy-efficiency, new energy technologies and electric-drive transportation initiatives. Our Mission is to provide clean, economical and reliable energy consistent with our commitment to safety, while promoting energy efficiency and innovation for the benefit of our customers and all New Yorkers. 

One of our customers is the Village of Lake Placid, whose electric department serves approximately 4,000 customers, covering all of Lake Placid Village and part of the surrounding Town of North Elba. NYPA began supplying electricity to Lake Placid in 1967.

Lake Placid has hosted two Winter Olympics, the first in1932 and more recently in 1980. In 1981, the State of New York created the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) to operate, manage, and maintain the Winter Olympic facilities in and around Lake Placid.

NYPA began working with ORDA on energy efficiency a decade ago. NYPA’s customer, the Village of Lake Placid was interested in improving the energy efficiency of the ORDA facilities.

In 1996, NYPA began energy audits of the ORDA facilities.  In 1997, NYPA’s Trustees authorized a project to upgrade the energy efficiency of ORDA’s snow-making operations. In 2004, we initiated additional upgrades to their snowmaking operations. We are currently preparing to embark on additional energy-saving projects with ORDA to improve the energy efficiency of Olympic Arena in Lake Placid as well as perform new upgrades at Whiteface and Gore Mountain.

In total, NYPA’s energy-efficiency work will help ORDA cut its annual energy costs by $736,680 and reduce its electricity consumption by 11,965 megawatt-hours each year -- the equivalent of saving 22,939 barrels of oil annually.  The energy-saving projects will reduce overall electric demand by 2.5 megawatts and help to avoid 9,191 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

In the course of working with NYPA on energy efficiency, ORDA became aware that NYPA plays a significant role in economic development and tourism.

The Authority’s economic development mission began with its creation in 1931. The original Power Authority Act enumerated among the Authority’s powers and duties studying “…means of attracting industry to the state of New York…”  Over the past seventy-five years, NYPA’s economic development responsibilities have grown with the creation of an array of power programs designed to create and retain jobs in the Empire State.

NYPA’s tourism-related duties result, first of all, from the federal licenses for our hydropower projects which include requirements regarding recreational and tourism facilities. NYPA operates visitor centers at each of its major hydropower projects and is actively engaged in regional tourism promotion. State law has recognized our tourism responsibilities by including the NYPA among the members of the New York State Interagency Tourism Task Force.

Given the importance of Lake Placid’s Olympic facilities to tourism and economic development, NYPA agreed to enter into a sponsorship agreement with ORDA in 2000.

In addition to sponsorship of the Congressional Winter Olympic Challenge, NYPA’s agreement with ORDA provides funds to the Head Start Ski programs for pre-kindergarten children from Essex, Clinton and Franklin Counties, and the Olympic authority's Fresh Air Fund program which offers inner-city youth the opportunity to enjoy ORDA’s outstanding sporting facilities. The agreement also includes sponsorship of national and international winter sports competitions -- such as World Cup bobsled and luge championships -- that bring tourism dollars to the Lake Placid region and the Adirondacks.

ORDA tells us that it has received over $11 million in Federal funding for capital improvements (including more than $9 million since the Congressional Winter Olympic Challenge began) and that the Olympic Authority’s annual, overall economic impact totals $356 million.  In my mind, that’s an impressive return on our annual investment of $55,000.

I am sincerely hopeful that the Assembly’s efforts to publicly review this matter will help to correct the false impressions and misconceptions prompted by some news accounts. I am sure that we all share a genuine and sincere interest in preserving the Empire State’s valuable Olympic assets and promoting Lake Placid as the “Winter Sports Capital of the World.”