LARGE, DIVERSE COALITION URGES PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION TO APPROVE CHAMPLAIN HUDSON POWER EXPRESS CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT

For Immediate Release

March 7, 2022

*This Press Release was updated on March 24, 2022, to reflect additional expressions of support

Contact: Chris Singleton (TDI), chris@risaheller.com

Lynn St-Laurent (HQ), st-laurent.lynn@hydroquebec.com

LARGE, DIVERSE COALITION URGES PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION TO APPROVE CHAMPLAIN HUDSON POWER EXPRESS CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT

More Than a Thousand New Yorkers Make Their Voices Heard in Support of CHPE by March 7th PSC Reply Comment Period Deadline

Environmental Advocates, Local Community Leaders, Organized Labor, Elected Officials Across NYS Among Those Calling for CHPE

CHPE to Provide Fixed-Cost, Clean Energy to 1 Million New York City Homes

CHPE Will Reduce NYC’s 90% Dependence on Electricity produced from Fossil Fuels by 25% — Cutting Air Pollutant Equivalent of 15 of NYC’s 16 Peakers Power Plants, or 500,000 Cars from NYS Streets and Roads.

CHPE Will Create 1,400 Good-Paying Jobs; Provide $1.5B annually in NY Benefits

Consensus for CHPE: APPROVE NOW. BUILD NOW.

New York – March 7, 2022 – More than a thousand New Yorkers from communities up and down the state and from all walks of life have submitted formal comments by today’s March 7th reply comment period deadline, urging the Public Service Commission to approve the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) clean energy project.

Local community leaders, elected officials, environmental activists, business groups, labor unions, academic institutions, advocacy organizations, and everyday New Yorkers have come together to form a united front in support of CHPE, citing the innovative clean energy project’s enormous economic, environmental and societal benefits.

Additionally, a recent opinion poll shows strong support across every demographic group and in every region tested across the state. The survey of 500 New Yorkers in late January and early February found that 65% of all New Yorkers support the Champlain Hudson Power Express – with just 12% opposed.

“We are pleased to have taken part in this important public process, and are grateful for all of the support that the Champlain Hudson Power Express has received including over a thousand letters from residents, environmental advocates, communities throughout the State, elected officials, business and labor leaders, academics and others,” said Donald Jessome, CEO of Transmission Developers Inc. “We look forward to the completion of the PSC process and, if the Tier 4 contracts are approved, beginning construction on this crucial clean energy project.”

“We are proud to partner with TDI and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake to bring clean, reliable, and affordable energy to New York,” said Hydro-Québec President and CEO Sophie Brochu. “We want to thank the PSC for this important step in the process.”

This groundswell of support stems from CHPE’s many values and benefits, including:

• Reliable 24/7/365 Power for NYC: With new State (CLCPA) and City (LL97) clean energy requirements, and with Indian Point now shuttered, CHPE will power more than 1 million NYC homes (20% of the City’s demand) with clean, ‘always-available’ energy, and contribute 7% towards the State’s 70% by 2030 renewable energy target.

• Fight Climate Change: NYC remains overly reliant on oil and gas for its electricity needs, with 90% coming from fossil fuels. CHPE will cut that dependence by a whopping 25%, removing the pollution equivalent of 15 of the City’s 16 peaker power plants, or 500,000 cars from New York streets and roads. At the same time, renewable energy in use across the state has increased only slightly, from 25.7% (2016) to just 27.0% (2020). Carbon emissions have stayed relatively flat between 2016 to today, showing no appreciable decrease – even as awareness and the warning signs of inaction intensify.

• Improving Lives in Underserved Communitie: Underserved communities have for far too long housed fossil-fueled generation and the introduction of CHPE will benefit these communities by reducing pollution, improving health conditions, and increasing the ability for these generators to be shut down permanently. CHPE provides nearly $50 million in community benefits funding targeting underserved communities and commits over $100 million to an environmental trust fund to improve New York waterways.

• Soonest Available Clean Energy Online: CHPE is fully-permitted and shovel-ready, will begin construction this year if approved, and will start delivering power to NYC in 2025. No other project, even those critical for New York’s clean energy portfolio, has an earlier in-service date or equal level of reliability

• Address Rising Energy Costs: At a time of skyrocketing utility bills for ratepayers, record oil and gas industry profits, and current global instability, the Tier 4 program is designed to protect ratepayers from these shocks. CHPE will physically deliver a large quantity of new renewable energy into New York City and is projected to lower wholesale energy prices.

• Create Jobs and Grow the Economy in New York Communities: CHPE will create 1,400 good-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and provide $1.5 billion annually in benefits for New York through economic activity, tax revenues, community benefits, air and carbon pollution reduction, and energy price reductions.

About the Champlain Hudson Power Express 

The CHPE project involves the construction of an entirely underground and underwater transmission line spanning approximately 339 miles between the Canada–U.S. border and New York City. Once built CHPE will deliver clean hydropower. The permitted CHPE is estimated to create more than 1,400 jobs during construction, with a commitment to use union labor.

About Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec is the largest renewable energy producer in North America. For decades, the company has been a reliable energy partner for New York, providing clean power to the State in support of its clean energy and reliability needs. In order to source the CHPE, Hydro-Québec will expand its transmission grid in Québec, from the Hertel substation to the Québec-New York border.

About TDI

TDI (Transmission Developers Inc.), a Blackstone portfolio company, has spent a decade meticulously developing with local stakeholders the N.Y. portion of the project and its 339-mile route. The solid-state buried cable will travel a route through Lake Champlain, the Hudson and Harlem Rivers and terrestrially on railroad rights of way and roads until it reaches a converter station in Astoria, Queens where its clean energy will be distributed into New York City.

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