1 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 STATE OF NEW YORK 3 PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 4 5 CASE 20-G-0131 - Proceeding on Motion of the 6 Commission in Regard to Gas Planning Procedures. 7 8 PUBLIC STATEMENT HEARING 9 DATE: May 13, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. 10 LOCATION: WebEx 11 PRESIDING: ALJ MICHAEL CLARKE 12 ALJ JAMES COSTELLO 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 APPEARANCES: 3 JOSEPH WHITE SANGEETHA KAILAS 4 DIANE BURMAN 5 SARA SCHULTZ 6 LEE ZIESCHE 7 AMBER RUTHER MARGOT SPINDELMAN 8 JOHN RAFF SARAH HESS 9 CAROL CHOCK HEATHER STANTON 10 JEANNE BERGMAN ELLEN WEININGER 11 CLARKE GOCKER WENDY HIJOS 12 ROBERT WOOD LISA MARSHALL 13 BARBARA HERTEL 14 RICHARD BERKLEY ANN FINNERAN 15 ELISA EVETT DELIA FARGUHARSON 16 VANESSA AGUDELO 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 A.L.J. CLARKE: Thank you. I call 3 Case 20-G-0131, Proceeding on Motion of the 4 Commission, in Regard to Gas Planning Procedures. 5 Good evening and welcome. 6 We are here today for a public 7 statement hearing, that was noticed on April 19th, 8 2021. Today’s hearing is to receive comment on two 9 proposals that were filed in this proceeding by the 10 Department of Public Service Staff, the Gas System 11 Planning Process Proposal and the Moratorium 12 Management Proposal. Both proposals were filed on 13 February 12th of this year and are currently under 14 consideration by the Public Service Commission. 15 My name is Michael Clarke and I am an 16 administrative law judge for the Department of Public 17 Service. Administrative Law Judge James Costello is 18 also present and together, we are responsible for 19 presiding over today’s hearing. We are joined by 20 Sangeetha Kailas and Joseph White of the Department’s 21 Office of Consumer Services, as well as the court 22 reporter, who will prepare a transcript of the 23 hearing. The transcript will be included in the 24 official record of this proceeding and made available 25 on the Department of Public Service website. 4 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 The statements you make today, will be 3 transcribed and become part of the case record, so 4 they can be considered by the Public Service 5 Commission, in connection with any action it takes on 6 Staff’s proposals. The Commission currently has 7 four members, the interim Chairperson, John B. 8 Howard and three Commissioners, Diane Burman, James 9 Alesi and Tracey Edwards. We are fortunate this 10 evening, to have Commissioner Burman joining us. 11 Would you like to say a few words, Commissioner 12 Burman? MS. BURMAN: Thank you. I just wanted 13 to welcome everyone to this proceeding. My role 14 tonight is really to be a listener. I will be 15 listening and I’m happy to be a part of this gas 16 planning procedure. Thank you. 17 A.L.J. CLARKE: Thank you, 18 Commissioner Burman. I have some general comments 19 and then I’ll briefly explain the process we’ll be 20 following today. As I stated earlier, the purpose of 21 today’s hearing, is to provide you with an 22 opportunity to tell the Commission your thoughts on 23 D.P.S. Staff’s proposals. This is not an evidentiary 24 hearing or a question and answer session but rather 25 -- rather a forum to hear your comments. 5 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 This is not, however, the only 3 opportunity for you to comment. If you did not 4 register to speak here today but would nonetheless 5 like your views to be considered by the Commission, 6 you can submit comments on the Department’s website, 7 by email or regular mail or by phone. All comments 8 will be given equal consideration, regardless of how 9 they are submitted. 10 I will call people who have registered 11 to speak one-by-one. If someone is not available 12 when I call them, I will move on to the next person 13 and come back later in the hearing to anyone who was 14 not originally available. 15 For the people who have registered 16 electronically, we will unmute your line after we 17 call your name. You should hear a tone and see that 18 the microphone icon on your screen is no longer red. 19 For telephone participants, when I call out your 20 name, I will ask you to press star three on your 21 phone, so we can recognize you and unmute your line. 22 It may take us a moment to do this, so please be 23 patient and do not begin speaking until after you’ve 24 been notified that your line is unmuted. After you 25 have provided your statement, I may ask you to press 6 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 star three again, so we can more easily locate the 3 next speaker. 4 When your line is unmuted, please 5 state your name and if you are speaking on behalf of 6 an organization, the name of the organization. Once 7 I confirm we can hear you, you can proceed to make 8 your comments. Please speak slowly and clearly, so 9 that the court reporter can accurately capture your 10 statement for the record. 11 To the extent that you have a lengthy 12 written statement, please just provide an oral 13 summary today and follow-up with submission of the 14 full written statement by email or regular mail. 15 Because of the number of people who 16 have registered to speak, we request that you try to 17 limit your statement to about three minutes. Please 18 remember, that if you’ve muted the line on your end, 19 you will also have to unmute yourself before you 20 begin to talk. 21 Okay. We’re going to get started. I 22 apologize in advance for mispronouncing anyone’s 23 name. Our first speaker is Vanessa Agudelo. 24 MS. KAILAS: Vanessa, if you have 25 called in to attend this hearing, please press star 7 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 three on your phone, so I can locate you. I don’t 3 see any raised hands, Your Honor. 4 A.L.J. CLARKE: Okay. We’ll move onto 5 Delia Farquharson, also a phone-in user. 6 MS. KAILAS: Delia, if you have -- if 7 you are attending this hearing by calling in, please 8 press star three on your phone, so you may raise your 9 hand and I can locate you. Thank you. 10 A.L.J. CLARKE: Okay. As we’re not 11 seeing any raised hands, I’m going to move to the 12 registered speakers that we can tell are present. 13 We’ll begin with Ms. Sara Schultz. 14 MS. SCHULTZ: Can you hear me? 15 A.L.J. CLARKE: We can. 16 MS. SCHULTZ: Great. The P.S.C.’s 17 Department of Public Service gas planning process 18 proposal -- 19 A.L.J. CLARKE: Ms. -- Ms. Schultz, 20 I’m sorry to interrupt you but will you please just 21 identify yourself for the record? 22 MS. SCHULTZ: Oh, sure, Sara Schultz. 23 I actually Chair the C.R. called Sierra Club 24 Niagara Group up here in Western New York. 25 A.L.J. CLARKE: Thank you very much. 8 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 MS. SCHULTZ: Sure. The P.S.C.’s 3 Department of Public Service Gas Planning Process 4 Proposal, even with a significant improvements to 5 avoid new gas growth, does not give us a clear path 6 to phasing out fracked gas. We must go beyond just 7 slowing down gas expansion. Business as usual, will 8 cost New Yorkers billions of dollars, due to climate 9 disruption. These disruptions are already happening 10 in every part of the country. 11 In 2020, the U.S. had 22 separate 12 billion dollar weather and climate disasters. These 13 included tropical cyclones, severe storms, drought 14 and wildfires, to a combined cost of 95 billion 15 dollars in damages and it doesn’t even include 16 disasters that were under a billion dollars. 17 Also, according to NOAA, we have had 18 the seven hottest years since 2014. NOAA unveiled 19 what the new normal will be, compared to the 20th 20 century. Since 1901 to 1930, the first period of 21 climate and norms calculations, the Continuous U.S. 22 has warmed 1.6 degrees ... one degree Celsius. The 23 largest jumps have been in the last two 30 year 24 periods. Interestingly, Fairbanks, Alaska is not 25 even classified as a sub-arctic region anymore. 9 1 5-13-2021 - Gas Planning Procedures - 20-G-0131 2 Some regions will be wetter; some will 3 be much dryer. The National Climate Assessment 4 Report, predicts a dire future for the Great Lakes, 5 particularly Lake Erie, which I live on, due to 6 worsening storms, increased erosion and algae ... to 7 higher water temperatures and ag runoff. Other 8 problems, due to climate change in New York, already 9 are more vector-borne diseases, severe winter storms 10 also and obviously, flooding, due to an ocean rising.