Town of Malta
Town Hall
2540 Route 9
Malta, New York 12020

Background

Article VII of the New York State Public Service Law establishes the review process for consideration of any application to construct and operate a fuel gas transmission line extending a distance of one thousand feet or more to be used to transport fuel gas at pressures of 125 pounds per square inch or more. 

On August 22, 2011, Niagara Mohawk submitted an application to construct a new natural gas transmission pipeline located in the Towns of Ballston and Malta.  The pipeline would traverse west to east initiating at Niagara Mohawk's existing E13 pipeline in the Town of Ballston, and continuing east to a new gas regulator station located in the Town of Malta.  The pipeline will serve the GLOBALFOUNDRIES manufacturing plant located on the Luther Forest Technology Campus.  As part of its proposal, Niagara Mohawk is seeking to acquire and maintain a new 20-foot wide permanent right-of-way for the new gas pipeline. 

Niagara Mohawk was notified by letters dated September 2, September 9, and October 21, 2011, by the Secretary to the Commission that the application documents were not in compliance with all of the Article VII requirements and that the deficiencies identified must be corrected before the application could be considered complete.  The application was supplemented on October 6, October 21, October 31, and November 10, 2011 and determined to be in compliance with Public Service Law Section §121-a(3) and its implementing regulations as of November 10, 2011.   

How to Obtain Information

The project's Article VII application documents and other material pertaining to the case can be viewed on the Commission's website at www.dps.ny.gov:  Under the titles, "What's Hot", then "Natural Gas", click on "National Grid - Ballston to Malta Gas Line."

Ways to Participate in the Article VII Process

Article VII provides opportunities for individual and group stakeholders to take part in the formal review of the application.  There are several ways to participate in the Article VII process as described below.  To save time and manage all of your service and party list subscriptions easily, you may become a registered user of the NYS Public Service Commission's Document and Matter Management (DMM) System, by clicking on this link: http://www.dps.ny.gov/DMM_Registration.html.  Once registered, you can electronically submit requests to be added to the service or party list for a case.  You may also visit www.dps.ny.gov/MonitorProceedings.html to learn more about these opportunities.   

• Party Status: Becoming a party to a case enables an individual or group to contribute to the development of a complete record by conducting discovery, submitting testimony, briefs, or other formal written comments, and participating in evidentiary hearings, procedural conferences and other formal events conducted in the case.

When you submit the request for party status on-line (through DMM), you will be provisionally added to the party list, subject to the right of other parties to object and subject to the final determination of the Administrative Law Judge.  You will be required to mail your request to anyone on the party list who cannot receive e-mail service.

If you do not wish to register on the NYS Public Service Commission's DMM System, you may download the "Request for Party Status Form" (http://tinyurl.com/PSCParticipateForms).  If you do not have access to a computer, you may call (518) 474-4520, or write to Administrative Law Judge Kevin Casutto, NYS Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223-1350, to request that a form be mailed to you.  Please follow the instructions on the form.

• Service List: Interested persons who wish to monitor the proceedings of a particular case can do so without the formal commitment to become a party to the proceeding. The persons who subscribe to the service list of a case will receive an e-mail with a direct link to the documents issued by the Commission, such as orders, notices, and rulings. Persons unable or unwilling to receive such electronic notification will receive hard copies of Commission-issued documents by regular mail.

If you do not wish to register on the NYS Public Service Commission's DMM System, you may download the "Service List and Mail Service List Request Form" (http://tinyurl.com/PSCParticipateForms) and send the completed form by e-mail to the Secretary at [email protected].  If you are unable to e-mail the form to the Secretary, you may mail your request to: Secretary, Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223-1350.

Web Monitoring:  Interested persons who choose not to sign up to receive e-mail notifications can view our website at their convenience to check on the status of a case.  All documents filed by parties, correspondence, hearing transcripts, and documents issued by the Commission in a given case are posted on the website for that case.  In addition, all comments submitted by the public are posted under the ‘public comments' tab for the same case.