CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Project Sunlight is an effort by my office to promote your right to know and to monitor governmental decision-making. This website - the first of its kind in New York - allows you to easily access statewide government information that until now has been scattered and difficult to retrieve.

Of course, Project Sunlight would not be available without the support of the Governor and legislative leaders. Their agreement - and the support of the entire legislature - ensured that start-up funding for Project Sunlight was included in the state budget.

Currently, we are working on the first phase of this project: collecting and standardizing different data and making it available to you on a comprehensive, easy-to-search website. During this initial phase, you have the ability to search the Project Sunlight website to examine information related to campaign finance, legislation, lobbying activity, and recipients of state government contracts.

Our goal is to promote disclosure as well as to increase government's transparency and accountability to you. As James Madison, the Founding Father of the Bill of Rights observed, "Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

We look forward to receiving your comments or suggestions, and any requests for additional information you would like to see made publicly available. We will incorporate your ideas into a more robust version in 2008.

We hope this website is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

NEW YORK, NY (February 26, 2007) – Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the appointment of Ellen Nachtigall Biben as Special Deputy Attorney General for Public Integrity, where she will oversee landmark initiatives to fight government corruption.

The Public Integrity Bureau will handle civil and criminal cases, pursuing perpetrators of fraud and bad conduct statewide and seeking to recover misspent taxpayer funds.

Ms. Biben’s distinguished 11-year career as a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s office has produced several long-term, comprehensive investigations into organized crime, money laundering, public corruption, tax evasion, and other forms of racketeering. Since 2001, she has specialized in such prosecutions, serving as Deputy Bureau Chief of the Rackets Bureau.

“Ellen Biben’s proven experience finding and eliminating corruption in its various forms puts her at a great advantage to help restore integrity and trust in the state Capitol and beyond,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Her tireless work as a prosecutor has served the people of New York County well for over a decade. I am proud to welcome her to our team, where she will lead this extraordinarily important effort. She will be an asset not only to the Department of Law, but to the entire state.”

For the Department of Law, Ms. Biben will manage Attorney General Cuomo’s milestone public integrity initiatives, which include a thorough review of approximately 6,000 legislative budget member items, a multi-layered legality review of any further proposed items, and “Project Sunlight,” a statewide Internet database where New Yorkers can examine links between elected officials, campaign donations, lobbyists, special interests, and/or state contracts.

“Ellen Biben served the Manhattan District Attorney’s office with distinction for more than ten years,” said New York County District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau. “Her excellent work on a wide range of white-collar, corruption, and organized crime cases, and her experience as a supervisor in the Rackets Bureau make her an outstanding choice to head the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit.”

Prior to her tenure at the New York County District Attorney’s office, Ms. Biben was a litigation associate with Sullivan & Cromwell and a law clerk to the Hon. Alan H. Nevas of the United States District Court for Connecticut. Ms. Biben received a B.A. from Wesleyan University, where she was captain of the varsity swim team and a J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center, where she was executive editor of the Law Review.

After many delays, Schwinn's new electric bikes are now available in certain bike stores. The range includes the Campus, the least expensive model at $1,900, the World GSE, which sells for $2,200, and the Continental priced at $2,500. These bikes look just like regular bikes -- the electric motors and batteries are integrated seamlessly into the design.

Schwinn claims that the four pound Protanium lithium polymer battery included with these bikes is the lightest and most durable on the market. One charge will last 40-60 miles. You detach the batteries to charge them, so there are no wires on the bike itself. The bikes use a 250 watts max electric hub motor in the front wheel, controlled by a throttle on the handlebar which can propel the bike up to 18 mph. The batteries have a lifespan of about 3 years.

A word of caution: the electric bike review magazine, A To B, warns that the Schwinn's they tested had battery problems when going uphill .

NEW YORK - Wind energy company Noble Environmental Power Inc. has registered for an initial public offering of common stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday.

Noble did not disclose the expected size or price range of the IPO, but indicated the offering price may total up to $375 million. The company noted that the total offering price was estimated to calculate its registration fee and may change.

The Essex, Conn.-based company was founded in August 2004 and began operating its first wind parks in March 2008. Noble has 282 megawatts, or MW, of electrical generating capacity through wind parks in New York. The company has also started construction of additional wind parks in New York and Texas that it expects will provide an extra 465 MW of capacity in 2008.

By the end of 2012, Noble expects to have about 3,850 MW of capacity.

The company widened its loss to $42.5 million in 2007, from $20.7 million in 2006.

Noble plans to use the net proceeds from the IPO for general corporate purposes, which include development activities, investments and other capital expenditures, such as future turbine supply agreements.

President and Chief Executive Walter Howard was previously a senior vice president at American Water Works Company Inc., a nongovernmental water supplier and water utility. He also served as CEO of Noble Power Assets LLC, which was founded by some members of the company's senior management to acquire assets in the unregulated electric power generation industry.

Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ), JP Morgan Securities and Credit Suisse Securities are underwriting the IPO.

Noble plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market (nasdaq: NDAQ - news - people ) under the symbol "NEPI."

Surging fuel costs are about to inflict more pain on consumers, this time in the form of rapidly rising electricity bills.

Power prices are being pushed up across the U.S., with increases sometimes soaring into double digits, due to costlier coal and natural gas, the fuels used to make 70% of the nation's electricity.

It usually takes awhile for fuel-price swings to show up in electricity bills because utilities typically buy most of what they need under long-term arrangements. As older contracts expire, though, utilities are facing the reality of higher costs.

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SARANAC LAKE — New York State Electric and Gas, which provides electricity to customers in several towns in the northeastern Adirondacks, may soon be owned by a Spanish power company if a deal can be reached with the state Public Service Commission.

NYSEG, which is based in Binghamton and provides electricity and gas to Jay, Wilmington and AuSable Forks as well as much of Clinton County, is a subsidiary of Energy East, a Portland, Maine-based company. Iberdrola, a Madrid, Spain-based utility provider, agreed to purchase Energy East last June for $8.4 billion. Federal regulators have approved the merger, as have regulators in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut, the other four states where Energy East operates, but the PSC is withholding approval until Iberdrola divests itself of all wind holdings in the state and agrees not to invest in any more.

“The PSC says it would prevent other wind developers from moving forward with projects, and also that it wouldn’t allow other wind developers to connect to their lines,” U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said last week. “This is absolutely absurd. The PSC has not offered a shred of evidence to support this claim.”

Iberdrola’s case will be going before the PSC this summer. PSC spokesman James Denn told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle last week that negotiations between the company and the commission are continuing and that PSC is trying to ensure no one company can monopolize the wind energy market in the state.

“If a company can control both the generation and the distribution of electricity, they have an opportunity to exert a greater influence on the market than you might want them to,” Denn said.

Schumer said existing regulatory safeguards should be adequate to ensure Iberdrola doesn’t break the law.

“If the PSC is so inept at finding illegal actions by utilities, they ought to fold up shop themselves,” Schumer said.

The PSC has also said Iberdrola should create a $664 million trust fund to cover unforeseen increases in utility prices so consumers’ rates don’t go up. The company has agreed to a $200 million trust fund so far.

“I don’t think it’s high enough, but it’s a good start,” Schumer said.

Iberdrola is one of the leading producers of wind power in Europe. It already holds a 50 percent stake in the Maple Ridge Wind Farm in Lewis County, and it owns the Roaring Brook Wind Farm in Lewis County and the Horse Creek Wind Farm in Jefferson County. It has several wind farms in Pennsylvania, and it has signed deals to develop wind power in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

“Particularly with fossil fuel prices going up, wind power offers real environmental and economic benefits,” Schumer said. “The PSC is standing on its head. It’s upside down; it’s inside out. They should be encouraging Iberdrola to use wind power.”

Schumer said the Maple Ridge Wind Farm, which opened in 2007, pays $8 million per year in property taxes, pays $1.56 million to local property owners and has created 159 new jobs. Schumer said New York greatly underutilizes wind power, currently using only 411 megawatts of the grid’s 7,000 megawatt capacity.

Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26

We need more diverse sources of energy. We need to reduce our electric bills. So why won't New York State allow businesses, schools, hospitals and other government entities to get serious about generating their own power?

That's the question Albany lawmakers were asked repeatedly yesterday on "Net Metering Day," as advocates for an intelligent energy policy tried to spark support for a law giving electrical power to the people.

Perhaps these bills, which make economic and environmental common sense, have languished because the legislators can't comprehend what exactly net metering means. Or maybe the state's private utilities, which stand to lose a few dollars if local generation becomes widespread, were more persuasive.

Well, we can help with the comprehension part. Right now, residential users who create their own solar, wind or biomass power can make their meters spin backward, reducing their bills. Extra power can be sold back to the electrical grid. More widespread benefits, however, will come only when huge power-users can play, too.

Lawmakers should get behind the expansive net metering bills sponsored by Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and Sen. Owen Johnson (R-West Babylon). While two local lawmakers are taking the lead in this fight, Long Island really doesn't need a new law to get started - LIPA is exempt from the regulations for private utilities.

Just 227 Nassau and Suffolk homeowners had the pleasure of getting a refund check last year, but Long Island Power Authority chief executive Kevin Law has decided to expand the program to all LIPA customers. That's just the kind of aggressive energy leadership the state needs.

Now it's Albany's turn.

So you're excited about the 2010 Prius, with its modest mileage gains. Or maybe you really want a Chevy Volt, with a 40 mile all-electric range. 2010, as we've noted, is going to be a good year for green cars. But, well, this is ridiculous.

VW has been talking for a long time about their 1L concept, so called because it uses a measly 1 liter of gasoline to go 100 km. For us Americans, that translates to about 230 miles per gallon. Of course, the amazing mileage comes at a price. The car is tiny, more of a tobaggon than a car. The single passenger actually sits behind the driver, like in a small airplane.

The tiny engine will only get the car up to about 75 mph and, as such, VW doesn't expect to sell a lot of them. Safety concerns might also keep the car from being a best seller. But, since it does have four wheels, it will have to meet all of the normal safety regulations for cars.

VW will continue to release details on the car, but they are firm that it will be produced by 2010. And, in terms of pure efficiency, its only real competitor will be the 300 MPG Aptera.

Via MotorAuthority and Gas2

National Grid has proposed new environmentally-friendly programs for its Upstate New York service area designed to save energy.

If rubber-stamped by the Public Service Commission, the average National Grid residential electric customer could see a $1.50 increase in their monthly bills as early as October. Over the three years the programs will be made available, company officials estimate those customers could save a total $350 million.

"As part of its energy and environmental policy, the state of New York has set an ambitious goal of reducing energy usage 15 percent by 2015," said Tom King, president of National Grid in the U.S. "National Grid is proposing expanded energy efficiency programs for our customers so that we can together take action to achieve this goal."

The proposed programs were filed April 30, and cover what would be considered the old Niagara Mohawk service territory. The company has some 1.5 million electric customers in Upstate New York.

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ALBANY -- Gov. David Paterson's effort to create a state energy plan kicked off Tuesday on the second floor of the Capitol.

Paul DeCotis, Paterson's deputy secretary for energy, presided over the newly created state Energy Planning Board, which has 13 members from various state agencies and the executive branch.

DeCotis unveiled ambitious goals and a grueling process that is expected to create a final state energy plan by June 30, 2009.

"Given the large scope of the executive order, it really is an enormous challenge," he said.

DeCotis and the other members of the board, including executive director Thomas Congdon, met in a packed room, where many in the audience had to stand.

Several energy industry leaders and executives were in the crowd, including Pat Curran, executive director of The Energy Association of New York State, which represents utilities, and Gavin Donohue, president of the Independent Power Producers of New York, which represents power plant owners. Representatives from Horizon Wind Energy, a wind farm owner, and Reliant Energy, an energy marketer, also attended.

Staff members will develop a framework for the plan before the board's next meeting in midsummer.

Paterson's executive order already lays out goals such as forecasting energy prices and supplies for the next 10 years and looking into alternative energy and the effect energy policies have on the environment and public health.

The plan also is expected to compare energy costs in New York with those in other states.

"We have more issues than time," said Garry Brown, chairman of the state Public Service Commission and a member of the board.

The panel plans to create a public Web site, and it will accept input from the public and interested policy groups. After a draft is completed next March, it will hold six public hearings across the state.

"We anticipate it will be a very engaging process," DeCotis said.

New York's last state energy plan was completed in 2002.