Maziarz blasts Champlain Hudson transmission line

From today’s Heard Around Town:

Sen. George Maziarz

* Last week state Sen. George Maziarz and 13 fellow lawmakers sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticizing the Champlain Hudson Power Express, a proposed transmission line to send energy from Canada to the New York City area. The project comes as Cuomo is looking to boost the state’s energy infrastructure and generating capacity, but lawmakers like Maziarz want to prioritize existing, in-state power producers and want to block the new project. “It’s bad long-term policy because it’s going to make us reliant on an out-of-state – in this case, out of country – source for our energy needs when we have plenty of resources in state,” Maziarz said. The company spearheading the project argues it will create jobs, relieve congestion and won’t cost the state anything. “We’re not asking for state ratepayers to pay for this line,” said Donald Jessome, Transmission Developers Inc’s president and CEO. “We know the state has very scarce resources to invest in different projects, and by having a private sector company build part of the transmission system, it allows the state and other agencies to use their scarce resources for other areas.”