Rick Karlin at Capitol Confidential reports that the New York Public Service Commission approved "a 1,000 megawatt (MW) transmission line stretching 330 miles from the Canadian border to Astoria, Queens, primarily through Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, with some segments on land, primarily in railroad or state highway rights-of-way." The transmission line will be built by TDI, a company which is part of the Blackstone Group private equity and hedge fund. The PSC wrote, "A critical factor in the Commission’s decision to approve the project is the fact that the financial risk to ratepayers is minimized since ratepayers will not be required to assume the financial risks to build the project; ratepayers will be protected from construction and operation costs." In this area, the the four, five-inch-diameter high-voltage direct current cables were moved away from Columbia County’s residence-dominated shoreline to Greene County land, re-entering the Hudson River in the town of Catskill across the river from the Germantown/Livingston/Greenport border. The Commission’s decision may be obtained by going to the Commission Documents section of the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.ny.gov and entering Case Number 10-T-0139 in the input box labeled “Search for Case/Matter Number.” Read more at Capitol Confidential.