To: Jeffrey C. Cohen, Acting Secretary, Public Service Commission
Stop the Canadian Takeover of our Local Utility
The New York State Public Service Commission should reject the takeover of CH Energy Group by Canadian holding company Fortis, Inc. (Case 12-M-0192). A takeover will jeopardize 375,000 customers' well-being, endanger local jobs, and prevent improvements to the power grid needed to protect New Yorkers from the effects of severe storms and fight climate change.
Why is this important?
Unless we take immediate action, the major distributor of electricity and gas to the Mid-Hudson Valley will be taken over by Canadian holding company Fortis, Inc. CH Energy Group is the parent company of Central Hudson Gas and Electric, serving more than 375,000 customers.
Residents will be at the mercy of a financial corporation with a disastrous environmental record. In Belize, Fortis built the Chalillo Dam, destroying precious habitat and raising costs to ratepayers.
New York risks losing local jobs. In a similar case, when Iberdrola, SA, bought Rochester Gas & Electric in 2008, they cut the workforce by more than 200 people and replaced them with outside contractors.
The proposed takeover does nothing to make Fortis improve the power grid, protect us from the effects of storms like Irene, Lee, and Sandy or better utilize clean energy sources. Fortis may be even able to override New York State regulations through the use of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
The so-called community benefits are minuscule compared to what the top executives at CH Energy will talk away with (reportedly $8.7 million for CH Energy Group CEO Steven Lant and $5.9 million for Executive Vice President James Laurito). "Fortis and Central Hudson shareholders are about to get away with stealing money from the ratepayers of this community," Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston said at the public hearing.
We call on the New York State Public Service Commission to reject the acquisition of CH Energy Group by Fortis, Inc.
Residents will be at the mercy of a financial corporation with a disastrous environmental record. In Belize, Fortis built the Chalillo Dam, destroying precious habitat and raising costs to ratepayers.
New York risks losing local jobs. In a similar case, when Iberdrola, SA, bought Rochester Gas & Electric in 2008, they cut the workforce by more than 200 people and replaced them with outside contractors.
The proposed takeover does nothing to make Fortis improve the power grid, protect us from the effects of storms like Irene, Lee, and Sandy or better utilize clean energy sources. Fortis may be even able to override New York State regulations through the use of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
The so-called community benefits are minuscule compared to what the top executives at CH Energy will talk away with (reportedly $8.7 million for CH Energy Group CEO Steven Lant and $5.9 million for Executive Vice President James Laurito). "Fortis and Central Hudson shareholders are about to get away with stealing money from the ratepayers of this community," Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston said at the public hearing.
We call on the New York State Public Service Commission to reject the acquisition of CH Energy Group by Fortis, Inc.