State of New York Public Service Commission ______

STATE OF NEW YORK PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ______

Application of New York Transco LLC for a Certificate of Case 19-T-____ Environmental Compatibility and Public Need Pursuant to Article VII of the New York Public Service Law to Construct, Operate, and Maintain a New, Double-Circuit 54.5-Mile 345/115 Kilovolt Electric Transmission Line and Related Facilities Located in the Town of Schodack, Rensselaer County; the Towns of Stuyvesant, Stockport, Ghent, Claverack, Livingston, Gallatin, and Clermont in Columbia County; and the Towns of Milan, Clinton, and Pleasant Valley in Dutchess County ______

APPLICATION OF NEW YORK TRANSCO LLC FOR A CERTIFICATE OF ENVIRONMENTAL COMPATIBILITY AND PUBLIC NEED PURSUANT TO ARTICLE VII OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC SERVICE LAW TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE, AND MAINTAIN A NEW, DOUBLE-CIRCUIT 54.5-MILE 345/115 KILOVOLT ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION LINE AND RELATED FACILITIES LOCATED IN THE TOWN OF SCHODACK, RENSSELAER COUNTY; THE TOWNS OF STUYVESANT, STOCKPORT, GHENT, CLAVERACK, LIVINGSTON, GALLATIN, AND CLERMONT IN COLUMBIA COUNTY; AND THE TOWNS OF MILAN, CLINTON, AND PLEASANT VALLEY IN DUTCHESS COUNTY

William M. Flynn John T. McManus Aubrey A. Ohanian HARRIS BEACH PLLC 677 Broadway, Suite 1101 Albany, New York 12207 Tel: (518) 427-9700 Fax: (518) 427-0235 Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Attorneys for New York Transco LLC

Dated: October 18, 2019 STATE OF NEW YORK PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ______

I. Introduction

Pursuant to New York Public Service Law (“PSL”) § 122 and the New York Department of Public Service’s (the “Department”) associated implementing regulations (16 NYCRR Parts

85, 86, and 88), New York Transco LLC (“Transco”) files this application (the “Application”) with the New York State Public Service Commission (the “Commission”) to secure the

Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need (“CECPN”) necessary to allow

Transco to construct, operate, and maintain the New York Energy Solution project (the “NYES

Project” or the “Project”).1

1 Transco’s limited and tailored petition seeking waivers of certain sections of the Department’s rules and regulations governing the contents of the Application pursuant to 16 NYCRR § 3.3 (c) is attached to the Application as Exhibit A.

1 Pursuant to PSL § 122 and 16 NYCRR § 85-2.8, the Application provides: (1) information about Transco and its regulatory contacts, (2) information about the NYES Project location, (3) a description of the NYES Project, (4) a summary of the environmental studies conducted with respect to the NYES Project and its environmental impact, (5) a description of the need for the NYES Project, (6) a description of any reasonable alternative routes or technology available to the NYES Project, and (7) other relevant information that Transco deems necessary or desirable for the Commission to consider as it evaluates the Application. Each of these categories of information is explained in further detail in the Application’s accompanying

10 appendices and 15 exhibits, all of which were prepared in accordance with PSL Article VII and 16 NYCRR Parts 85, 86, or 88.2

II. The Applicant

Transco’s full legal name and address are:

New York Transco LLC One Hudson City Centre Suite 300 Hudson, New York 12534

As referenced in Exhibit 1 to the Application, any pleading, motion, notice, order, or other document required to be served upon Transco or filed by any party to this proceeding should be served upon the following individuals:

Kathleen Carrigan, Esq. John T. McManus, Esq. General Counsel Aubrey A. Ohanian, Esq. New York Transco LLC Harris Beach PLLC One Hudson City Centre, Suite 300 677 Broadway, Suite 1101 Hudson, New York 12534 Albany, New York 12207 Tel.: (518) 444-4631 Tel.: (518) 427-9700 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] [email protected]

2 A Table of Contents providing an overview of the Application’s contents, including Exhibits 1 thru 9 and E-1 thru E-6, the table and figures included therein, and the accompanying appendices, is attached to the Application as Exhibit B.

2 III. The NYES Project Location

The NYES Project will be located in an existing overhead electric transmission corridor and/or on adjacent land already owned by transmission operators in the Town of Schodack in

Rensselaer County; the Towns of Stuyvesant, Stockport, Ghent, Claverack, Livingston, Gallatin, and Clermont in Columbia County; and the Towns of Milan, Clinton, and Pleasant Valley in

Dutchess County.

IV. Description of the NYES Project

Exhibit 2 to the Application fully describes the NYES Project. In brief, the Project includes (1) the installation of a new, 54.5-mile 345 kV electric transmission line—to be known as the Transco #96 line—that will be co-located with existing 115 kV electric transmission lines

(referred to collectively throughout the Application as the “new, 54.5-mile 345/115 kV double- circuit transmission line”) on new monopoles between the new 345 kV Knickerbocker Switching

Station owned by Transco and located in the Town of Schodack, Rensselaer County, the rebuilt

115 kV Churchtown Switching Station owned by Transco and located in the Town of Claverack,

Columbia County, and the existing 345 kV and 115 kV Pleasant Valley Substations owned by

Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and Central Hudson Gas & Electric

Corporation (“Central Hudson”), respectively, and located in the Town of Pleasant Valley,

Dutchess County (together, the “345/115 kV Pleasant Valley Substation,” and individually, the

“345 kV Pleasant Valley Substation” or “115 kV Pleasant Valley Substation”); (2) the replacement of 2.2-miles of 115 kV electric transmission line in an existing Niagara Mohawk

Power Corporation d/b/a National Grid right-of-way (“ROW”) that extends from the existing 115 kV Blue Stores Substation to a tap with the existing National Grid #8 115 kV Lafarge to Pleasant

Valley line (referred to as the “Blue Stores Tap”); and (3) the installation of a 0.8-mile double-

3 circuit 345 kV electric transmission line that will run from the existing 345 kV Pleasant Valley

Substation to and from the new 345 kV Van Wagner Capacitor Bank Station.

The NYES Project will retire, replace, or upgrade existing, aging electric transmission infrastructure. For example, the NYES Project will reduce the overall quantity of transmission infrastructure in the Project’s ROW, which is an existing transmission corridor, by replacing approximately 700 structures with approximately 470 self-supporting steel monopole structures in a modified delta configuration that eliminates the need for guys and anchors. This removal and replacement will reduce the footprint of structures in the Project’s ROW between the existing

115 kV Churchtown Switching Station and the 345/115 Pleasant Valley Substation. Further, approximately 24 older, wood H-frame structures associated with the Blue Stores Tap will be replaced with approximately 24 tubular steel H-frame structures. The new structures will, for the most part, be similar in height to the existing structures, thereby having no significant adverse impacts on the viewshed.3

Additionally, Transco is working with Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. and Central

Hudson on a development schedule and implementation plan to permit, develop, and construct certain Commission-required transmission additions associated with the NYES Project (referred to in the Commission’s underlying alternating current (“AC”) transmission proceedings as the

“Segment B Additions”),4 which include, for example, performing terminal work at the existing

345 kV Coopers Corners and Rock Tavern Substations to improve the thermal ratings on lines

#34 and #42.

3 See Exhibit 4.4. 4 See e.g. Case 12-T-0502, Proceeding on Motion of the Commission to Examine Alternating Current Transmission Upgrades, Order Finding Transmission Needs Driven by Public Policy Requirements (issued Dec. 15, 2015) (the “AC PPTN Order”), at Appendix B ¶ 5 (“No transmission solution shall be selected for Segment B that does not incorporate certain specified add-ons that would be constructed (i.e., upgrades to the Rock Tavern Substation; upgrades to the Shoemaker to Sugarloaf transmission lines), unless the NYISO determines that such add-ons, jointly or severally, are not material to the accomplishment of the purpose of the transmission solution for Segment B.”); see also Exhibit E-4.3.

4 V. Environmental Studies and Impacts

The NYES Project has been, and will continue to, be designed, constructed, and operated in a manner that avoids or otherwise minimizes impacts to environmental resources. To this end,

Transco, through its consultants, has conducted field investigations, environmental impact studies, and literature reviews and engaged in agency consultations to identify and assess existing environmental conditions within the Project’s study areas (e.g., three miles from the

Project’s center line). A detailed description of those studies and the resulting potential environmental impacts of the NYES Project are set forth in the resource-specific sections of

Exhibit 4 to the Application, including:

4.3: Land Use

4.4: Visual Resources

4.5: Cultural Resources

4.6: Terrestrial Ecology (including rare, threatened, and endangered species)

4.7: Topography and Soils

4.8: Water Resources (including wetlands)

4.9: Noise

4.10: Electric and Magnetic Fields

In sum, Exhibit 4 and the accompanying studies/report establish that the environmental impacts of the NYES Project’s construction and operation will be limited in both scope and duration and will occur primarily during the construction phase.5 Because the Applicant has designed the NYES Project to be constructed and operated within an existing transmission line

5 For an overview of the results of the studies and surveys conducted to determine the Project’s environmental impacts, see Exhibit 4.1.

5 corridor and/or adjacent utility-owned land, it is not anticipated that construction and operation of the NYES Project will have any significant adverse impacts on environmental resources.

VI. The Need for the NYES Project

In November 2012, following the release of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s 2012 Energy

Highway Blueprint, which called for, among other things, the development of over 1,000 MW of new AC transmission upgrades to move power from upstate to downstate, the Commission initiated the Examine Alternating Current Transmission Upgrades proceeding (Case 12-T-0502) and identified the AC transmission corridor traversing the Mohawk Valley Region, the Lower

Hudson Valley region, and the Capitol Region as a source of persistent congestion. These regions include facilities connected to Marcy, New Scotland, Leeds, and the Pleasant Valley substations, along with two major electrical interfaces referred to as “Central East” and

“UPNY/SENY.” Ultimately, the Commission determined that there was a transmission need

“driven by Public Policy Requirements for new 345 kV major electric transmission facilities to cross the Central East and UPNY/SENY interfaces to provide additional transmission capacity to move power from upstate to downstate” (the “AC Transmission PPTN”). The Commission further explained that the AC Transmission PPTN is divided into two segments—Segment A

(i.e., Central East interface) and Segment B (i.e., UPNY/SENY interface).6

As described more fully in Exhibits 3 and E-4, after declaring the AC Transmission

PPTN, the Commission ordered the New York State Independent System Operator, Inc.

(“NYISO”) to solicit solutions to the AC Transmission PPTN. Following the submission of 16 proposed solutions by 6 developers, and after extensive comparative analysis, on April 8, 2019, the NYISO Board of Directors announced its selection of the NYES Project to satisfy Segment B

6 See generally Case 12-T-0502, supra, AC PPTN Order, at 45-46 and Appendix A.

6 of the AC Transmission PPTN.7 It rendered this decision after concluding that the NYES Project

demonstrated superior performance across a broader range of metrics when compared against

other proposed Segment B projects and, as a result, is the more cost-effective or efficient

solution to satisfy Segment B of the AC Transmission PPTN. As part of this selection, the

NYISO reiterated the requirement that the NYES Project be operational by the end of 2023.

As is described in Exhibit E-4.4, the satisfaction of the AC Transmission PPTN, coupled

with the other significant benefits the Project provides, justifies the need for the Project at the

cost detailed in Exhibit 9.

VII. Description of Any Alternative Routes or Technology Available to the NYES Project

Exhibit 3 to the Application provides a description and evaluation of alternatives,

including a discussion of the comparative merits and disadvantages of each alternative, and an

explanation of why the Project’s ROW is the best route. Although Transco did not consider

alternative routes to the Project as a whole for the reasons explained in Exhibits 3 and E-4,

Transco did consider and evaluate potential alternative solutions/routes for certain portions of the

Project, including the location of the two, new 135 MVAR 345 kV capacitor banks that need to

connect to the 345 kV Pleasant Valley Substation and possible undergrounding options.

7 New York State Independent System Operator, Inc., NYISO Board of Directors’ Decision on Approval of AC Transmission Public Policy Transmission Planning Report and Selection of Public Policy Transmission Projects, Executive Summary (Dated April 8, 2019), available at https://www.nyiso.com/documents/20142/1390750/Board- Decision-AC-Transmission-2019-04-08.pdf/32323d32-f534-a790-1b03-2cb110033320 (last accessed Sept. 25, 2019). The NYISO Board also announced its selection of one of the proposed solutions submitted jointly by the New York Power Authority (“NYPA”) and North American Transmission (now referred to as LS Power Grid New York, LLC and LS Power Grid New York Corporation I, together “LS Power”) to satisfy Segment A of the AC Transmission PPTN (id. at 6). NYPA and LS Power filed a joint PSL Article VII application with the Commission seeking a CECPN to construct, operate, and maintain their selected Segment A project on August 20, 2019 (see generally Case 19-T-0549, Application of LS Power Grid New York, LLC, LS Power Grid New York Corporation I, and the New York Power Authority for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need Pursuant to Article VII for Edic/Marcy to New Scotland; Princetown to Rotterdam Project).

7 VIII. Other Necessary or Desirable Information

Exhibit 1 to the Application provides Transco’s corporate name, address, and phone

number; Transco’s principal officer’s name, address, and phone number; and the names and

addresses of the Transco representatives who should receive service of documents and

correspondence in this proceeding. Exhibits 2, 5, E-1, and E-2 to the Application provide a

detailed description of the location of the various facilities that comprise the NYES Project.

Exhibit 6 to the Application sets out the positive economic effects the Project’s

construction and operation will have on the traversed municipalities.

Exhibit 7 to the Application provides information on local laws, codes, and ordinances

(the “Local Laws”) that are applicable, or potentially applicable, to the NYES Project. As

indicated in Exhibit 7, Transco requests that the Commission grant waivers of specified

provisions of those Local Laws that would be unreasonably restrictive if applied to the Project.

To ensure that the relevant personnel (i.e., Code Enforcement Officer, Building Inspector,

Zoning Administrator, etc.) in each traversed municipality are aware of Transco’s requests for

waivers contained within Exhibit 7 and the effect Public Service Law § 130 has on any local

permitting requirements, Transco has been voluntarily meeting and will continue to meet with

each traversed municipality to discuss Exhibit 7.8 As of the date of this filing, Transco has met

with 6 of the 11 municipalities to discuss Exhibit 79 and intends to schedule the remaining 6

municipal meetings in the coming weeks.

Exhibit 8 to the Application describes other pending filings associated with the

Application and Exhibit 9, which will be filed under separate cover with the Commission’s

8 These meetings are separate from and additional to the town board meetings Transco has participated in as discussed below. 9 Transco has met with the relevant personnel in the Towns of Schodack, Stuyvesant, Claverack, Gallatin, Ghent, and Pleasant Valley to discuss Exhibit 7.

8 Records Access Officer due to the confidential information contained therein, provides estimated cost information regarding the NYES Project.

Exhibit E-5 to the Application explains why the NYES Project is not expected to cause any material adverse impacts to television, radio, or other communications systems, and Exhibit

E-6 to the Application evaluates the impacts of the Project on airports, railroads, roads, and pedestrian areas. The latter analysis demonstrates that the Project will be designed and constructed in a manner that will avoid interference with any of these transport modes except for impacts on roads during construction, which will be temporary and minimized by appropriate measures.

Appendix A contains Transco’s testimony in support of the Application, Appendix B contains agency correspondence, and Appendix C contains Transco’s most recent Public

Involvement Plan (“PIP”). Key features of the PIP include identifying key stakeholders in the

NYES Project area; advancing the public’s understanding of the NYES Project; and encouraging and collecting input from, and disseminating information to, stakeholders and the communities surrounding the NYES Project area. Various communication methods will be used as part of

Transco’s PIP, including but not limited to: public information meetings, presentations, a toll- free hotline, a website, direct mail, NYES Project fact sheets and newsletters, and electronic mail. As part of its comprehensive PIP, Transco has taken the following significant efforts to inform the public about the NYES Project:

Met with key stakeholders, including State agency staff (including that of the

Department, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and

New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets), State and federal

legislators representing the Project area, local elected leaders, the Hudson Valley

9 Smart Energy Coalition, and Scenic Hudson, among other parties, informing them

of the NYES Project;

Presented the NYES Project to the town boards in all 11 towns that will be

traversed by the Project during regularly-scheduled town board meetings;

Sent letters to the landowners who will abut the NYES Project, notifying them of

the Project and informing them of ongoing survey work and opportunities to

engage with the Project team (e.g., community meetings, the Project website,

etc.);

Completed a door-knocking campaign targeting over 525 landowners located in

all 11 municipalities that the Project will traverse;

Held 10 pre-application public information sessions in the following

municipalities between September 25, 2019 to October 5, 2019: Claverack,

Pleasant Valley, Clermont, Schodack, Hudson, and Milan;

o Published print and digital advanced notice of these voluntary pre-

application public information sessions in The Record, the Register-Star,

and the Poughkeepsie Journal, which are the newspapers of general

circulation in Rensselaer, Columbia, and Dutchess Counties, respectively.

Published print and digital notice of the filing of the Application in The Record,

the Register-Star, and the Poughkeepsie Journal, which are the newspapers of

general circulation in the Rensselaer, Columbia, and Dutchess Counties,

respectively, once a week for two consecutive weeks prior to this filing;

Established a website at http://www.NY-ES.com, which has been, and will

continue to be, updated regularly with current NYES Project information; and

10 Established a toll-free hotline number and an email address ([email protected])

to receive inquiries regarding the Project.

As outlined in the PIP, Transco will continue its robust public outreach efforts throughout the Project’s siting and construction.

11 IX. Conclusion

Transco respectfully requests that the Commission issue an order pursuant to PSL Article

VII granting the following:

1. A CECPN to construct, operate, and maintain the NYES Project; and

2. Such other and further authorizations, consents, permissions, approvals, waivers

and permits, as necessary, to construct, operate, and maintain the NYES Project,

including, but not limited to:

a. A Certificate pursuant to Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, 33 USC §

1341 (a) (l) and 6 NYCRR § 608.9;

b. The waivers requested in the petition for waivers included in Exhibit A to

the Application; and

c. The waivers of local ordinances described in Exhibit 7.

HARRIS BEACH PLLC

/s/ William M. Flynn______William M. Flynn John T. McManus Aubrey A. Ohanian 677 Broadway, Suite 1101 Albany, New York 12207 Tel: (518) 427-9700 Fax: (518) 427-0235 Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Attorneys for New York Transco LLC

Dated: October 18, 2019 Albany, New York

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