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BASIC CONCEPTS
Q. What is Article 10?
Q. What is meant by the term "siting"?
A. "Siting" is a process consisting of a series of steps conducted by a regulatory agency in determining whether to allow a facility to be located and operated on a site.
Q. What is meant by the term "major"?
A. An electric generating facility is deemed to be "major" if it has the capacity to generate 25,000 kilowatts (25 megawatts) or more of electricity. The 25 megawatt threshold is roughly equivalent to the average electric power needs of 30,000 households in New York State.
Q. What is meant by the term "electric generating"?
Q. What is meant by the term "facility"?
Q. What is meant by the term "certificate"?
THE SITING BOARD
Q. What is the "Siting Board"?
A. The Siting Board is a governmental entity of New York State organized within the New York State Department of Public Service. The Siting Board was established primarily to review applications and to issue or deny certificates authorizing the construction and operation of major electric generating facilities. When the Siting Board is reviewing an original application for a certificate, it consists of five permanent members and two
ad hoc public members. The five permanent members of the Siting Board also have additional responsibilities to promulgate regulations for the implementation of Article 10, and they have jurisdiction with respect to the amendment, suspension or revocation of a certificate.
Q. Who are the permanent members of the Siting Board?
Q. What is meant by the term "ad hoc"?
Q. Do ad hoc public members receive any compensation for their service on the Siting Board?
Q. What are the qualifications to be an ad hoc public member?
A. To be eligible to be an ad hoc public member, the person must:
(a) be eighteen years of age or older,
(b) be a citizen of the United States;
(c) be a resident of New York State;
(d) be a resident of the municipality in which the facility is proposed to be located (if such facility is proposed to be located within the City of New York, the person must also be a resident of the community district in which the facility is proposed to be located);
(e) not hold another state or local office; and
(f) not retain or hold any official relation to, or any securities of an electric utility corporation operating in the state or proposed for operation in the state, any affiliate thereof or any other company, firm, partnership, corporation, association or joint-stock association that may appear before the Siting Board, nor shall the person have been a director, officer or, within the previous ten years, an employee thereof.
Q. How are the two ad hoc public members designated to serve on the Siting Board?
Q. How is the list of ad hoc public member candidates established?
Q. How is the list of candidates established in the City of New York?
Q. How is the list of candidates established in a town outside of any villages or in a city other than the City of New York?
Q. How is the list of candidates established in a village?
A. If such facility is proposed to be located in a village, the chief executive officer representing the town shall nominate four candidates, the chief executive officer representing the county shall nominate four candidates, and the chief executive officer representing the village shall nominate four candidates for consideration. The list of candidates is to be submitted to the President Pro Tem of the Senate or the Speaker of the Assembly within fifteen days of receipt of notification of the pre-application preliminary scoping statement.
Q. How is the list of candidates established if the facility is to be built on parcels of land located in more than one municipality?
Q. What resources are available to assist the Siting Board?
TYPES OF GENERATING FACILITIES
Q. What types of electric generating facilities are likely to be proposed pursuant to the Article 10 process?
Q. Are electric generating facilities to be built by a power authority exempt from the Article 10 process?
Q. Are any electric generating facilities exempt from the Article 10 process?
Q. If a facility is exempt from the Article 10 process, can the developer of the facility opt-in to the Article 10 process?
A. Yes, if the facility is excluded because of exemptions (d), (e), (f) or (g) set forth above in the answer to the preceding question, the person intending to construct the major electric generating facility may elect to become subject to the provisions of the Article 10 process.
PRE-APPLICATION PROCEDURES - PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
Q. What is meant by the term "public involvement"?
Q. In what stages of the Article 10 process is it appropriate to conduct public involvement activities?
Q. How is public involvement conducted?
Q. Is the public required to participate in the applicant's public involvement activities?
Q. What are the purposes of a Public Involvement Program?
Q. What are the elements of a Public Involvement Program plan?
Q. When does the Public Involvement Program plan have to be prepared?
Q. What happens if the Department of Public Service (DPS) finds the Public Involvement Program plan to be inadequate?
What happens if the applicant refuses to incorporate a DPS recommendation without an adequate explanation, or has an inadequate Public Involvement Program plan?
Q. How do people who do not speak English participate in public involvement?
Q. What is the function of the Office of Public Information Coordinator created within the Department of Public Service?
Q. What is the Department of Public Service?
A. The New York State Department of Public Service is one of 20 major departments in New York State government. The Siting Board is a decision-making body organized within the Department of Public Service. The Public Service Commission is another decision-making body organized within the Department of Public Service. The Chairman of the Public Service Commission also serves as chief executive of the Department of Public Service and Chairperson of the Siting Board. The staff of the Department of Public Service represent the public interest in all Siting Board proceedings, under the direction of the Chairperson.
Q. How can I contact the Office of Public Information Coordinator?
PRE-APPLICATION PROCEDURES - PRELIMINARY SCOPING STATEMENT
Q. What is a Preliminary Scoping Statement?
Q. When does the Preliminary Scoping Statement have to be filed?
Q. What kind of information must be included in a Preliminary Scoping Statement?
Q. What happens after the Preliminary Scoping Statement is filed?
PRE-APPLICATION PROCEDURES - Fund for Municipal & LOCAL PARTIES
Q. What is the fund for municipal and local parties?
A. Applicants are required at several stages in the Article 10 process to provide funds to be used to defray certain expenses incurred by municipal and local parties when participating in an Article 10 proceeding. These funds are known as "intervenor" funds collected by assessing an "intervenor" fee on the applicant.
Q: How does an applicant set up the fund?
A. Applicants supplying the requisite fee to set up the intervenor funding account for the preliminary scoping phase of the case must provide a check, made out to the NYS Department of Public Service, simultaneously with the filing of their Preliminary Scoping Statement. The case number must be printed on the face of the check. The check must be delivered to the Director of the DPS Office of Finance and Budget, under cover of a letter stating the amount of the check and the Article 10 case name and number. The letter must be copied to the Secretary of the Siting Board for filing in the Article 10 case.
Q. What is an "intervenor"?
Q. What is the amount of the intervenor fee assessed during the pre-application stage?
Q. What happens if after the pre-application intervenor fees have been used up, the applicant amends its preliminary scoping statement and more review is required?
Q. How does a qualified intervenor make a request for intervenor funds?
Q. When are pre-application intervenor funds awarded?
A. The presiding examiner will provide for an expedited pre-application funding disbursement schedule to assure early and meaningful public involvement. Following receipt of initial requests for pre-application funds, the presiding examiner shall expeditiously make an initial award of pre-application funds. Subject to the availability of funds, the presiding examiner may fix additional dates for submission of fund requests. Thereafter the presiding examiner may make additional awards of pre-application funds, in relation to the potential for such awards to make an effective contribution to review of the preliminary scoping statement.
Q. Who is eligible for intervenor funds?
Q. What can pre-application intervenor funds be used for?
Q. On what basis will the funds be awarded?
A. The presiding examiner will award funds on an equitable basis to participants during the pre-application phase to be used to make an effective contribution to review of the preliminary scoping statement, and thereby provide early and effective public involvement.
PRE-APPLICATION PROCEDURES - STIPULATIONS
Q. What are stipulations?
Q. How is the stipulations process initiated?
Q. Do other parties and the public get an opportunity to participate in the stipulations process?
A. Yes. Before a stipulation may be executed, notice of the proposed stipulation must be provided and the public and other parties must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to submit comments on the proposed stipulation before it is executed by the interested parties.
Q. What happens if a party does not agree that a stipulation entered into between the applicant and another party is adequate?
A. No party that is not a signatory to the stipulation is barred from timely raising objections to any aspect of the preliminary scoping statement and the methodology and scope of any stipulated studies or program of studies in any such stipulation. A party that is a signatory to the stipulation may not object to any aspect of the preliminary scoping statement and the methodology and scope of any stipulated studies or program of studies covered in any such stipulation, unless the applicant fails to comply with the stipulation.
APPLICATION PROCEDURES - SUBMISSION OF AN APPLICATION
Q. What happens when an Article 10 application is submitted?
Q. What happens if the documents submitted are insufficient to comply with the requirements of the law, regulations and stipulations?
A. If the documents submitted are insufficient to comply with the requirements of the law, regulations and stipulations, the Chairperson of the Siting Board will issue a letter to the applicant advising of the deficiencies that must be corrected before the documents can be deemed a complying application.
The Chairperson of the Siting Board may also require the filing of any additional information needed to supplement an application before or during the hearings.
Q. What happens if the documents submitted are sufficient to comply with the requirements of the law, regulations and stipulations?
APPLICATION PROCEDURES - DESIGNATION OF PARTIES
Q. Who are the parties to an Article 10 proceeding?
A. There are three kinds of parties: (a) automatic statutory parties; (b) parties that have a right to be a party merely by giving notice; and (c) parties that may be permitted to join.
Q. Who are the automatic statutory parties to an Article 10 proceeding?
A. The applicant, staff of the Department of Public Service, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Economic Development, the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture and Markets, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Department of State, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and in certain instances, the Adirondack Park Agency.
Q. Who are the parties that have a right to be a party to an Article 10 proceeding merely by giving notice?
Q. Who are the parties that may be permitted to join?
Q. Where does a party file a notice of intent to be a party?
APPLICATION PROCEDURES - Fund for Municipal & LOCAL PARTIES
Q. What is the amount of the intervenor fee assessed when an application is filed?
Q. How does an applicant set up the fund?
Q. What happens if after the application phase intervenor fees have been used up, the applicant amends its application and more review is required?
A. If the application amendment is deemed a revision requiring substantial additional scrutiny, the applicant will be assessed an additional intervenor fee equal to $1,000 for each 1,000 kilowatts of capacity of the proposed project, as amended, but no more than $75,000.00. The presiding examiner may increase the level of the additional intervenor fee up to the maximum level of $75,000 if the presiding examiner finds circumstances require a higher level of intervenor funding in order to ensure an adequate record.
Q. How does a qualified intervenor make a request for intervenor funds?
Q. Who is eligible for intervenor funds?
Q. What can application phase intervenor funds be used for?
Q. On what basis will the funds be awarded?
HEARING PROCEDURES - CONDUCT OF THE HEARING
Q. Who conducts the hearings?
Q. What kinds of hearings will be held?
A. It is expected that both public statement hearings and trial-type evidentiary hearings will be held. In addition, persons are permitted to make a limited appearance.
Q. What are "public statement" hearings?
Q. What is a "limited appearance"?
A. Any person may make a limited appearance in the proceeding by filing a statement of his or her intent to limit his or her appearance in writing at any time prior to the commencement of the hearing. All papers and matters filed by a person making a limited appearance shall become part of the record. No person making a limited appearance shall be a party or shall have the right to present testimony or cross-examine witnesses or parties.
Q. What are "trial-type evidentiary" hearings?
Q. What is "discovery"?
Q. If the Siting Board does not personally conduct the hearings, how does it become informed of the proceedings?
SITING BOARD DECISIONS - TIMING OF THE DECISION
Q. Is there a deadline by which the Siting Board must make a final decision on an Article 10 application?
Q. What happens to the deadline if the application is amended during the Article 10 proceeding?
Q. Are there any other exceptions to the deadlines described above?
SITING BOARD DECISIONS - SUBSTANCE OF THE DECISION
Q. What options does the Siting Board have in making a decision on an Article 10 application?
Q. What substantive matters must be addressed in any Siting Board decision to grant an Article 10 certificate?
A. The Siting Board is required to make certain statutory findings and determinations, and the required determinations can only be made after considering certain required factors.
Q. What are the required statutory findings that must be made by the Siting Board?
Q. What are the required statutory determinations that must be made by the Siting Board?
Q. What are the required statutory factors that must be considered by the Siting Board in making the required determinations?
COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT
Q. Who is in charge of compliance and enforcement matters regarding a Certificate that has been issued?