Case 10-T-0139

Champlain-Hudson Power Express Project

Environmental Trust Governance Committee Meeting Minutes

June 22, 2017

On June 22, 2017, the Governance Committee for the Hudson River and Lake Champlain Habitat Enhancement, Restoration, and Research/Habitat Improvement Project Trust (the “Trust”) held its regularly scheduled meeting.

The meeting took place at the NYS Public Service Commission, 19th Floor Conference Room, Albany, New York, with videoconference connections to DEC’s Region 3 Office in New Paltz, New York and DEC’s Region 5 Office in Ray Brook, New York.

Attendees:

PSC Offices in Albany: Certificate Holders, DPS, DEC, DOS, City of New York

DEC Region 3 at New Paltz: Scenic Hudson via videoconference

DEC Region 5 at Ray Brook: APA via videoconference

Via teleconference: HRF, Riverkeeper

Agenda Items:

  1. Approval of March 2017 meeting minutes
  2. Project Update
  3. Trustee Bank Agreement
  4. Trust Administrator Agreement
  5. Next meeting date
  6. Election of Officers

Preliminary Items:

Meeting was called to order at 10:14 a.m. and a quorum was confirmed.

The minutes of the March 30, 2017 meeting were approved, with one correction.

Project Updates:

Certificate Holders reported on the status of the Project. Project activities discussed included:

  • New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) Class Year 2017(CY2017) Facilities Study began on March 1. Project is Queue 458, Quebec-NYC line with no interconnection. Champlain Hudson (CH) filed new interconnection request for Queue 631, the New Scotland Power Express, for line with interconnection at New Scotland.
  • Approximately Summer 2018 expected for signing of interconnection agreement; Best estimate of project financial close is last quarter of 2018.
  • Summer 2018 is also when CH expects to come back to PSC for Environmental Management and Construction Plan (EM&CP) filings.
  • CH remains optimistic about prospects of New York Power Authority (NYPA) Renewables Request for Proposal (RfP) and relationship with Canadian supplier. Proposals responding to NYPA RfP are due September 1.
  • There is a possibility of some pre-financial close interim trust funding if/when CH prevails in NYPA RfP. But not possible to fund prior to decision on RfP and/or interconnection agreement.
  • Navigational risk assessment has been approved by United States Coast Guard(USCG) but still needs concurrence letter from USCG. USCG has asked CH for data related in light of anchorage proposal.

Trustee BankAgreement:

  • CH has provided BNY Mellon most recent version of the Trust Agreement and expect to hear back soon and have next version within a few weeks.

Trust Administrator Agreement:

  • There is some substantive disagreement about best way to structure trust activities and set fee. Will reevaluate and iron out details closer to financial close in 2018.
  • There will be a separate meeting about benthic studies CH will conduct as part of Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) permit so Hudson River Foundation(HRF) can give input and see if any synergies between these studies and trust activities. CH will get scope once there is a preliminary deal with ACOE and then schedule meeting.
  • CH will share master list of studies required prior to next GC meeting (e.g., grappling survey, benthic survey).

Meeting Dates for 2017:

September 28, 2017 is next meeting, followed by December 7, 2017.

Election of Officers:

The following officers were elected unanimously:

Matt Maraglio/DOS – Chair

Heather Behnke/DPS – Vice Chair

TDI/Certificate Holder – Secretary

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Amended following 09/28/2017 meeting to spell out acronyms