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NEW YORK CODES, RULES AND REGULATIONS
TITLE 9. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
SUBTITLE A. GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
CHAPTER I. EXECUTIVE ORDERS
PART 4. *EXECUTIVE ORDERS (MARIO M. CUOMO)
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
ยง 4.118 Executive Order No. 118: Establishing an integrated energy resource planning process to be jointly implemented by the State Energy Office and the Departments of Public Service and Environmental Conservation
WHEREAS, statutory direction for the adoption of a State energy master plan and long-range electric and gas report expired on January 1, 1984, and legislative efforts to reenact an energy planning process have been unsuccessful; WHEREAS, the development, implementation and periodic review of a comprehensive and integrated energy resource plan remains critical to enabling the State to determine its future energy needs and to ensure a rational and effective means of meeting those needs; WHEREAS, decisions made with respect to the means for meeting the State's future energy needs can have significant impacts not only on costs borne by residential and business energy consumers, but on the preservation and enhancement of the environment, the health, safety and general welfare of the public and economic development within the State;
WHEREAS, global warming, acid deposition, ozone enhancement, increased transportation demand, solid waste disposal and increased dependency on imported energy supplies are of critical concern and must be addressed in integrated energy resource planning; WHEREAS, discrete State actions and determinations with respect to energy resources should be based on clearly identified policies and long-range energy planning objectives and strategies;
WHEREAS, the efficiency and effectiveness of government decisionmaking can also be enhanced by the use of consistent and rational assumptions with respect to future energy needs, availability and price projections;
WHEREAS, the State Energy Office is authorized to undertake analyses to determine present and projected energy use, supply and demand, and to obtain reports and information in connection therewith; and to provide advice with respect to all energy-related matters, including how best to obtain and maintain an adequate and continuous supply of safe, dependable and economical energy for the people of the State;
WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Conservation coordinates and develops policies, plans and programs related to the environment of the State, is broadly concerned with the impacts of the use of energy resources on water, land and air quality, and is currently responsible for reviewing applications and issuing permits in connection with certain energy facilities; WHEREAS, the Department of Public Service and the Public Service Commission, exercise certain jurisdiction over the manufacture, conveying, transportation, distribution and pricing of electricity and gas by the investor-owned utilities, including investor-owned utility corporate planning to assure safe and adequate service, at just and reasonable rates and the commission has directed the investor-owned electric utilities in the State to establish bidding procedures for future electric generation and to develop comprehensive demand-side management programs; WHEREAS, it is the public's interest to have these three agencies develop and review an integrated energy resource plan which projects future energy needs and makes other projections related to energy prices and availability, and includes a statement of basic policies and long-range energy planning objectives and strategies to guide energy-related decisionmaking by State government; and
WHEREAS, the development of the first integrated energy resource plan will parallel the development of competitive bidding programs for future electric generation, and there is a need for coordination of these processes to ensure that these bidding programs receive as much guidance as possible, consistent with their timely implementation, from the planning process;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, MARIO M. CUOMO, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Laws of the State of New York, do hereby establish an integrated energy resource planning process to be jointly implemented by the State Energy Office, the Department of Public Service and the Department of Environmental Conservation, with input from other public and private entities, for the purpose of developing and periodically updating an integrated energy resource plan, which shall identify basic policies, long-range energy planning objectives and strategies, future energy needs and price projections, and which shall guide energy-related actions and decisions and otherwise be utilized by State departments, agencies and authorities as provided herein.
I. INTEGRATED ENERGY RESOURCE PLAN
The Integrated Energy Resource Plan, and updates thereof, to be issued jointly by the Commissioner of the State Energy Office, the chairman of the Department of Public Service and the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation pursuant to this Executive Order, shall include the following:
a. demand forecasts for electricity, gas, coal and petroleum products, including transportation fuels, over forecast periods of not less than 15 years, for the service areas of the State's major electric and gas utilities and/or for the State as a whole, as appropriate, taking into account reasonably expected changes in demographic and economic activity and other similar factors, and energy conservation, load management and other demand-reducing measures reasonably expected to occur which will affect future end-use energy requirements over the forecast periods;
b. energy supply requirements needed to satisfy forecasted demand for electricity, gas, coal and petroleum products, including transportation fuels, for the service areas of the State's major electric and gas utilities and for the State as a whole, as appropriate, over the forecast periods, including with respect to electricity, the amount of capacity needed to provide adequate reserve margins and the amount of electric energy needed to compensate for transmission and distribution losses, and to meet out-of-state sales commitments and internal use and, with respect to gas, the amount of gas needed to compensate for lost and unaccounted for gas, and to meet out-of-state sales commitments and internal use; c. assessments of the ability of the existing energy supply sources and the existing transmission or fuel transportation systems, to satisfy, together with those sources or systems reasonably certain to be available, the resource supply requirements for electricity, gas, coal and petroleum products, including transportation fuels, over the forecast periods;
d. projections of energy prices over the forecast periods;
e. identification of the extent to which additional energy conservation, load-management and other demand-reducing measures can be achieved over the forecast periods beyond those measures whose impact has been incorporated into the demand forecasts for electricity, gas, coal and petroleum products, including transportation fuels;
f. identification of the reasonable alternative energy supply sources which can become available over the forecast periods beyond those identified in subparagraph c above;
g. analysis of the costs, risks, benefits and uncertainties of alternative energy supply sources and additional demand-reducing measures for satisfying resource supply requirements over the forecast periods which are not reasonably certain to be met by the energy supply sources included in the assessment under subparagraph c above. This analysis shall include an analysis of the environmental impacts of the alternative means of addressing increased transportation demands and mitigation measures available to minimize potential adverse impacts, including further diversification of transportation fuels, mass transportation options and alternative automotive engine design technology; and a specific analysis of the environmental impacts of alternative electricity supply scenarios, including energy generated from resource recovery, and mitigation measures available to minimize potential adverse impacts; h. a statement of energy policies and long-range energy planning objectives and strategies appropriate to achieve, among other things, the least cost integration of energy supply sources and demand-reducing measures for satisfying resource supply requirements, giving due regard to such factors as security and diversity of fuel supplies and generating modes, protection of public health and safety, preservation and enhancement of the environment, and conservation of energy and energy resources;
i. recommendations, as appropriate and desirable, for administrative and legislative actions to implement such policies, objectives and strategies;
j. an analysis of the probable impacts of the implementation of such recommendations upon economic development within the State, consumer energy costs, specifically including low-income consumers, the health, safety and welfare of the people of the State, and the quality of the State's environment;
k. an identification and analysis of emerging trends related to energy supply, price and demand; and
l. such other information as is deemed appropriate.
II. ENERGY PLANNING PROCESS a. The staffs of the State Energy Office, the Department of Public Service and the Department of Environmental Conservation shall consult regularly among themselves in connection with the development of the integrated energy resource plan, and updates thereof. The staffs shall seek to maximize input from other State departments, agencies and authorities, as well as other private and public entities, with respect to assumptions and alternate resource supply scenarios analyzed in the development of the integrated energy resource plan, consistent with the need to issue a plan and updates thereto within the specified time frames; b. The commissioner of the State Energy Office, the chairman of the Department of Public Service and the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation shall meet and confer as necessary to issue the first integrated energy resource plan pursuant to this Executive Order on or about July 31, 1989. At least 90 days prior to its issuance a draft plan, including accompanying environmental reports, shall be made publicly available for comment. Public hearings shall be held in connection therewith not sooner than 30 days after the issuance of such materials for public comment; and
c. After the issuance of an integrated energy resource plan pursuant to this Executive Order, the State Energy Office, the Department of Public Service and the Department of Environmental Conservation shall initiate a review of such plan in such fashion as shall enable an update to be issued no later than two years after the issuance of the prior plan. The review and update of the plan may be undertaken within a shorter time frame upon the agreement of the commissioner of the State Energy Office, the chairman of the Department of Public Service and the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. Issuance of an initial update, and succeeding updates, shall proceed in accordance with the provisions of this Executive Order.
III. STATE ACTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PLAN a. The Public Service Commission shall give due deference to the findings contained in the most recent integrated energy resource plan with respect to demand forecasts, energy supply requirements, energy supply assessments and energy price forecasts, and the policies and long-range energy planning objectives and strategies, in each of its energy-related decisions or programs.
b. The Department of Public Service, the State Energy Office and the Department of Environmental Conservation shall immediately provide, through a memorandum of understanding or other appropriate means, for the effective coordination of efforts to assure that the first utility bidding programs receive as much guidance as possible, consistent with their timely implementation, from the initial stages of the planning process. The Department of Public Service, the State Energy Office and the Department of Environmental Conservation shall further provide, through memoranda of understanding or other appropriate means, for coordinating the effective integration of the findings, policies and long-range energy planning objectives and strategies contained in the plan, and its updates, with the Department of Public Service's further efforts with respect to utility bidding programs and with respect to other efforts undertaken to implement laws and programs pursuant to the Public Service Commission's jurisdiction, including but not limited to proceedings pursuant to Article VII of the Public Service Law, such other approval or permitting proceedings as shall be applicable to the construction or operation of electric generating facilities, proceedings for the determination of long-run avoided costs, and proceedings with respect to utility demand-side management programs.
c. Every other State department, agency or office shall, subsequent to the issuance of the integrated energy resource plan pursuant to this Executive Order and unless required otherwise by applicable statutes, take official notice of and act in conformance with the findings with respect to demand forecasts, energy supply requirements and energy supply assessments, and the policies and long-range energy planning objectives and strategies contained in the plan or its most recent update, in connection with any energy-related decision, program or facility; and utilize the projections of energy prices over the forecast periods contained in the integrated energy resource plan, or its most recent update, in connection with any energy-related decision, program or facility for which a mid-range or long-range projection of price is required, except as required otherwise by applicable statutes or upon the determination by the head of such department, agency or office, based on clear and convincing evidence, that such projections of energy prices are no longer reasonable. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to limit in any way the authority of any department, agency or office to deny an application to construct, operate or modify an energy facility on environmental or public health and safety grounds. d. Every public authority and public benefit corporation shall give due deference to the findings with respect to demand forecast, energy supply requirements, energy supply assessments and energy price forecast, and the policies and long-range energy planning objectives and strategies contained in the plan, or its most recent update, in connection with any energy-related decisions, programs and facilities. Signed: Mario M. Cuomo
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