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WESTCHESTER COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
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July 28, 2014 | VOL. 50, No. 30
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Transportation, but local business groups fear the toll could be triple the $5 amount on the current Tappan Zee because tolls remain the sole revenue stream to pay off the construction debt. A Toll and Financing Task Force was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, two years ago, but to date no one has been appointed to the group. The administration has kept discussions about potential toll ramifications under wraps, with the discussion at the control board meeting the first public comment on the matter by members of a state agency. “If we don’t have a complete picture of what the permanent financing is, it would be very difTappan Zee, page 6
Indian Point, page 6
NEWSMAKERS • 20
FACES & PLACES • 27 Anthony Desiato
TOLL QUESTIONS LINGER AFTER TAPPAN ZEE LOANS OK’D ANOTHER QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS has been committed to the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement, but the seeming million-dollar question of how much the toll on the new bridge will cost remains unanswered. The state Public Authorities Control Board voted to approve $256 million in low-interest loans at its July 16 meeting, yet the majority of financing remains elusive for the $3.9 billion, twin-span bridge. The state received a $1.6 billion loan from the U.S. Department of
BY MARK LUNGARIELLO mlungariello@westfairinc.com
usiness and labor groups are lining up against a proposal by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to close Indian Point Energy Center during the spring and summer to protect fish in the Hudson River. The DEC is looking at options to protect fish and their eggs, which are killed when Indian Point sucks river water into its system for cooling. The state could require one or both of the Buchanan nuclear power facility’s generators to be shut down for 42-92 days between May and August, when fish are most likely to spawn but also when the electric grid is at its peak usage period. Arthur “Jerry” Kremer, chairman of the New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance and a former state assemblyman, called the proposal “unquestionably one of the dumbest ideas to come out of a state committee in 50 years.” The proposal has been knocked by business advocates who say the outages would be detrimental to the local economy by causing electric rates to spike and reducing the reliability of the grid in the hotter months, when air conditioning use increases energy consumption. Industry representatives say Indian Point produces as much as a quarter of all the power used in the region and that the loss of that energy would mean the production has to be replaced by non-nuclear power in coal or fuel plants that could increase air pollution. Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow sent the DEC a letter opposing the plan, saying it would cause increased air pollution and could have negative health impacts in minority communities downstate, where the majority of non-nuclear plants are located. “These communities are defenseless against toxic air emissions,” Keith F. Safian, president and CEO of the center, wrote. “Compounding these serious problems is continuing limited
IBM, APPLE TEAM UP • 4
BY MARK LUNGARIELLO mlungariello@westfairinc.com
Seasonal plan for Indian Point draws criticism