N.Y. Public Service Law 121 – Certificate of environmental compatibility and public need
§ 121. Certificate of environmental compatibility and public need. 1. No person shall, after July first, nineteen hundred seventy, commence the preparation of the site for the construction of a major utility transmission facility in the state without having first obtained a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need (hereafter in this article called a "certificate") issued with respect to such facility by the commission. The replacement of existing with like facilities, as determined by the commission, shall not constitute the construction of a major utility transmission facility. Any facility with respect to which a certificate is required shall thereafter be built, maintained and operated in conformity with such certificate and any terms, limitations or conditions contained therein. A certificate may only be issued pursuant to this article.
Terms Used In N.Y. Public Service Law 121
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Major utility transmission facility: means : (a) an electric transmission line of a design capacity of one hundred twenty-five kilovolts or more extending a distance of one mile or more, or of one hundred kilovolts or more and less than one hundred twenty-five kilovolts, extending a distance of ten miles or more, including associated equipment, but shall not include any such transmission line located wholly underground in a city with a population in excess of one hundred twenty-five thousand or a primary transmission line approved by the federal energy regulatory commission in connection with a hydro-electric facility; and (b) a fuel gas transmission line extending a distance of one thousand feet or more to be used to transport fuel gas at pressures of one hundred twenty-five pounds per square inch or more, excluding appurtenant facilities, but shall not include any such transmission line which is located wholly underground in a city or wholly within the right of way of a state, county or town highway or village street as those terms are defined in Article 1 of the highway law and Article 6 of the village law, or which replaces an existing transmission line, including appurtenant facilities, and extends a distance of less than one mile. See N.Y. Public Service Law 120
- Municipality: means a county, city, town or village in the state. See N.Y. Public Service Law 120
- Person: means any individual, corporation, public benefit corporation, political subdivision, governmental agency, municipality, partnership, co-operative association, trust or estate. See N.Y. Public Service Law 120
2. A certificate may be transferred, subject to the approval of the commission, to a person who agrees to comply with the terms, limitations and conditions contained therein.
3. A certificate issued hereunder may be amended as herein provided.
4. This article shall not apply to any major utility transmission facility:
a. For which, on or before July first, nineteen hundred seventy an application has been made for a license, permit, consent or approval from any federal, state or local commission, agency, board or regulatory body, in which application the location of the major utility transmission facility has been designated by the applicant;
b. The construction of which has been approved by a municipality or public benefit corporation which has sold bonds or bond anticipation notes on or before July first, nineteen hundred seventy, the proceeds or part of the proceeds of which are to be used in payment therefor; or
c. Over which any agency or department of the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction, or has jurisdiction concurrent with that of the state and has exercised such jurisdiction, to the exclusion of regulation of the facility by the state.
5. Any person intending to construct a major utility transmission facility excluded from this article pursuant to subdivision four may elect to waive such exclusion by delivering notice of such waiver to the commission. This article shall thereafter apply to each major utility transmission facility identified in such notice from the date of its receipt by the commission.