CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

ALBANY (wned) - It has never happened in the State Senate, according to the news release: the "majority" party choosing a member of the "minority" party to chair a Senate Committee.

That has just changed with the naming of George Maziarz (Republican, Newfane) to head the Senate Energy Committee.

"I try to be very collegial and the other side apparently noticed that," Maziarz said of his cooperative reputation. "Energy policy really doesn't have anything to do with politics."

A vocal critic of the New York Power Authority, Maziarz will likely be looking for changes, especially at NYPA's Niagara Power Project.

"I think they could do a whole lot more for Western New York," said Maziarz. "I think they could turn the economy of Western New York around."