NYPA chief backs Alcoa
MASSENA — Richard M. Kessel has vowed that as long as he is in charge of the New York Power Authority, Alcoa's preservation power allocation will be safe.
As NYPA and the state Legislature pursue reform of the authority's programs, the chief executive officer said Friday, he will work to ensure north country firms do not lose out on low-cost hydropower to job-creation formulas that favor downstate companies.
Responding to criticisms lodged against the Alcoa power allocation by the Citizens Budget Commission earlier this week, Mr. Kessel said he will do whatever it takes to keep Alcoa here. The NYPA chief said that while he supports the revamping of power authority programs such as Power for Jobs, pulling Alcoa's 30-year contract, which guarantees 478 megawatts of power in exchange for at least 900 jobs and the investment of at least $600 million at its Massena East plant, would be a grave error that could translate to terrible consequences for the north country.
"Alcoa is one of the most critical companies in our state," he said. "I think there's a lot we can do to reform our programs, but taking away the power from Alcoa is not on the table."
In a 30-page report on all nine of NYPA's economic development programs, the Citizens Budget Commission was highly critical of the Alcoa allocation, which members argued yielded seemingly little return on a very large state investment.
But Mr. Kessel said the value of the investment cannot be measured by simple jobs-to-megawatts ratios, especially when the job creation numbers are compared with those NYPA might witness at a downstate firm.
"It's very easy for people who don't live in the north country to talk about taking away that power," Mr. Kessel said. "When you don't live there, you don't understand how important Alcoa is. I learned from almost the first day I got into this job last October how important Alcoa is, how critical it is to the north country."
Despite his disagreement with the commission's recommendation on the Alcoa power situation, Mr. Kessel said he actually found much of the report to be useful. He has pointed out in the past and continues to stress that programs such as Power for Jobs are outdated and broken, that cumbersome legislative requirements do not provide NYPA the opportunity to take full advantage of several programs and that the required annual renewals, which often are subject to the storms of political wants, make it extremely difficult for participating companies to make long-term plans.
"We need to look at more uniformity, revamping the programs to have more emphasis on high-tech and renewable-energy projects," Mr. Kessel said. "We need to look at changing some of the criteria to give better incentives for companies to come here."
In pursuing reform, Mr. Kessel said, the state should look at tailoring programs and program requirements to each of its regions, to ensure that Central and Northern New York are not placed at a disadvantage.
"We have to be very careful of doing things that could shut out less densely populated areas of the state like upstate New York," he said. "Coming from Long Island, I look at Alcoa in the north country being what Computer Associates is to Long Island. You can't universally apply the same ratios or standards to Long Island as you can to Massena."
