Power Failure
- State Power Authority reaps a windfall by selling low-cost electricity intended to help WNY industry
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Updated: 06/09/08 9:32 AM Even though high utility rates are blamed for hurting the local economy, one-fifth of the low-cost power generated at the state power project in Lewiston and earmarked for local industry has gone unused by area businesses over the past four years, a Buffalo News investigation has found.
- Part 1: Region home to cheap power, high bills and huge corporate subsides
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Updated: 02/07/08 5:34 PM For a long time, having Niagara Falls in our backyard was a source of not only tourists, but abundant, cheap power that helped make the region an industrial powerhouse.
- Robert Moses muscled through construction of the Niagara Power Project
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:05 PM Robert Moses had built billions of dollars worth of bridges, parks, expressways and public housing highrises in and around New York City, and 50 years ago he wanted to construct what would be North America's largest hydropower plant on the escarpment of the Niagara River.
- Part 2: Niagara plant a huge moneymaker, but region sees little of the payoff
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Updated: 02/07/08 5:32 PM Employees at the Niagara Power Project perform maintenance and upgrade equipment. The plant employs about 290 workers, making an average of about $77,600 a year. The janitors and clerks earn an average of $52,000 a year, laborers and security guards $57,000, trade apprentices $65,000.
- Air travel adds up to sky-high costs
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:05 PM Most people can find a flight between Buffalo and Philadelphia for $200 to $300. Even less between Buffalo and New York City.
- Dollars that make no energy sense
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:05 PM The State Power Authority calls the $1 million it doles out each year to everyone from Little Leagues to festival organizers to the Elks as "community support contributions."
- Part 3: Politics as usual stymies a unique opportunity to maximize benefits from the power project
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Updated: 02/07/08 5:31 PM The recent history of Western New York is haunted by "what ifs."
- A taste for posh restaurants
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:08 PM By day, they preached fiscal restraint. By night, they and their guests dined on the public's dime in Buffalo's priciest restaurants.
- Plant's downside largely unaddressed in relicensing deal
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:07 PM Construction of the Niagara Power Project a half-century ago wasn't kind to the environment or the pocketbooks of numerous local governments and school boards.
- Higgins calls for major changes
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:08 PM Rep. Brian Higgins is calling for a housecleaning at the New York Power Authority.
- Update (9/23/07): Making smarter use of region’s hydropower
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Updated: 02/07/08 5:53 PM Think of the giant hydropower plant north of Niagara Falls as a set of jumper cables with enough juice to help restart the stalled regional economy.
- A big plan to promote small business in region
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:06 PM Sue McCartney, director of the Small Business Development Center, believes using hydropower funds to help entrepreneurs launch new businesses would be a smart investment. Sue McCartney can't contain her enthusiasm.
- Low-cost power allocations questioned
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:08 PM LEWISTON — Trustee Elise M. Cusack signs the relicensing resolution Tuesday along with other members of the board of trustees of the New York Power Authority. The New York Power Authority doled out more low-cost electricity to six Western New York companies Tuesday -- and paid more than the going rate for creating jobs.
- Update (1/13/08): Putting power to work for WNY
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Updated: 02/07/08 5:49 PM For the first time in a half-century, state officials are preparing to rethink the use of a huge block of low-cost hydropower generated north of Niagara Falls that’s intended to promote economic development in Western New York.
- Power Authority shift spurs WNY hopes
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:09 PM The governing board of the State Power Authority hired an Amherst energy executive Tuesday as its chief operating officer.
- Alcoa bid for power called boggling
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:12 PM Which companies should get inexpensive electricity to help shore up the local economy?
- Power Authority must end largess
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:11 PM The State Power Authority is cleaning up its million-dollar-a-year pork-barrel program that used ratepayers' money for everything from underwriting St. Patrick's Day parades and jazz festivals to supporting youth sports teams and volunteer fire departments.
- Alcoa cuts deal for low-cost hydropower
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Updated: 01/12/08 4:09 PM The effort to make more-efficient use of low-cost hydropower to promote economic development in Western New York probably got a lot tougher on Friday.
