New York Power Authority awards hydropower allocation for Amazon's Town of Niagara facility

Rob Creenan, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·3 min read

Mar. 22—The New York Power Authority has awarded a nearly 10.7-megwatt allocation of low-cost Niagara Power Project hydropower to Niagara County's planned Amazon facility.

The announcement comes as the authority's board of trustees approved awards to 22 firms across the state, including 140-megawatts of low-cost power for memory chip manufacturer Micron in Onondaga County and 250-killowatts of low-cost hydropower for the Village of Greene in Chenango County for an organic yogurt facility.

The New York Power Authority previously would not say if Amazon had submitted an application for low-cost power or other incentives, with spokesperson Alex Chiaravalle saying they are not at liberty to either confirm or deny the receipt of applications for such awards. A FOIL request later filed by the Gazette showed that Amazon had not filed with the Power Authority at the time.

Amazon has already been approved to construct a $550 million distribution center in the Town of Niagara on 216 acres next to the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, which has proved controversial among Niagara residents and watchdog groups that track Amazon's business dealings. The project had the support of the Town of Niagara and the Niagara County Planning Board.

The e-commerce giant had been approved a $123 million tax break package from the Niagara County Industrial Development agency this past summer, with the construction for the fulfillment center expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete and will create 1,000 new jobs in the area, of which 950 would be warehouse workers.

It's unclear when work will start at the Town of Niagara site. In response to a request for an update on the project from WIVB Buffalo on Tuesday, Amazon issued a statement that said in part that the status of the project remains the same since gaining necessary approvals this past summer but additional steps remain.

"The legacy of Niagara hydropower is deeply intertwined with economic growth and vitality of Western New York," said New York Power Authority Chairman John R. Koelmel, a Buffalo resident. "Amazon's investment in Niagara Falls will build on that legacy, creating more than 1,000 jobs and supercharging the regional economy with a more than half a billion-dollar investment."

Watchdog groups against this project included Good Jobs First, Reinvent Albany, and the American Economic Liberties Project. Their criticism of the project, and from area residents, ranged from the increased traffic due to Amazon trucks coming and going from the facility to Niagara County giving away one of the largest tax breaks the company received while barely paying its employees a living wage, at $15 per hour.

In response to the allocation, Public Power NY Coalition, a statewide movement of community and advocacy organizations, released a statement Wednesday night.

"Not only is Governor Hochul cozying up with Billionaire Bloomberg, she is now hijacking New York's existing public renewable energy to provide discounts to Amazon, the country's most notorious union buster. At a time when utility rates have skyrocketed and almost 30% of New Yorkers were unable to pay at least part of their energy bill in the past 12 months, it is laughable that she would direct utility discounts to Amazon in the name of 'economic development' instead of directing them to struggling New Yorkers. ...

"New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not create the New York Power Authority to provide discounts to the world's richest men. He created it to give back to the people the power that is theirs. We will continue to fight to pass the full Build Public Renewables Act, take our power back today, and ensure New York leads the way forward to a future we'll be proud to pass on to generations to come."