Quebec-to-Queens power line will provide electricity to densely populated region

The U.S. Department of Energy "has approved construction of a $2.2 billion, 1,000-megawatt power cable that will stretch from Quebec to New York City and bring badly needed electricity to the densely populated region," Colin Sullivan reports for Environment & Energy Publishing. The project was expected to be granted a presidential permit today. (Getty Images by David McNew)

The project "would connect to Quebec at Champlain, N.Y., and run under Lake Champlain and the Hudson to link up with a new converter station 336 miles to the south in Astoria, Queens," Sullivan writes. "The project would fill a crucial need in a region long hampered by transmission bottlenecks that could also face the loss of more than 2,000 MW from the Hudson Valley's Indian Point nuclear power station."

"In its own approval of the project, the New York Public Service Commission argued the much-needed power would address long-term demand and help to lower regional greenhouse gas emissions in the same breath," Sullivan writes. "The hydropower would also help the state avoid overreliance on natural gas, the PSC said." (Read more)

Some upstate New York legislators have opposed the power line, "saying it would compete with New York power producers," reports The Associated Press. "Supporters say it would make the state less dependent on the 2,000-megawatt Indian Point nuclear power plant, which provides about one-fourth of the power used in New York City and Westchester County. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he wants to close the aging nuclear plant but needs an alternate source for the energy it produces." (Read more)