2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 15 - Water Resources › Title 17 - Water Power › 15-1711 - Provisions and Conditions of Licenses; Payment to State Treasury of Moneys Received Under This Title.

§ 15-1711. Provisions  and  conditions  of  licenses;  payment  to state
treasury of moneys received under this title.
1. The term of the license shall not exceed fifty years from its date.
2. The licensee shall agree to accept  and  abide  by  the  terms  and
  provisions  of  title  17  of  this article, and to pay to the state the
  charge or rental, if any, fixed by the department and  reserved  in  the
  license, or as the same may be readjusted pursuant to law.
3.  The  license shall by reference to maps, plans, and specifications
  or otherwise clearly identify and define the improvement or  development
  to be affected under the license.
4.  If  the license affects any canal or canal feeder waters, it shall
  contain a provision, in substance,  reserving  to  the  Commissioner  of
  Transportation the right at any and all times to enter upon the property
  covered  by  the  license,  and  to  do and perform such acts or things,
  including the temporary drawing off of the water from the dam or forebay
  from which the licensee is drawing water and such  interruption  in  the
  supply  of  water  to  the  licensee, as may be deemed necessary for the
  repair, reconstruction or improvement of the canal or any canal works or
  structures and that the licensee shall be at all times subject  to  such
  reasonable  rules  and regulations for the management and maintenance of
  the canals and navigation thereof as the Commissioner of  Transportation
  shall  from  time  to  time  prescribe;  also  a  provision in substance
  reserving to the department the right, on ninety days' written notice to
  the licensee, to retake, recapture and resume wholly or in part the  use
  of  the  water  and other property covered by the license, including all
  structures erected upon  and  improvements  to  such  property,  and  to
  control  and  limit  the manner and extent of use of such water or other
  property, whenever in the opinion of the Commissioner of  Transportation
  or  the  Legislature,  the  necessary supply of water for the use of the
  canals of the state, or any future alterations or  improvements  of  the
  canals,  or the safety of the works connected therewith, may render such
  resumption,  control  or  limitation  necessary;  also  a  provision  in
  substance  reserving to the state the right wholly to abandon or destroy
  the canal, dam or works by the erection or  construction  of  which  the
  surplus water covered by the license is rendered available. In either of
  which  events,  the  licensee,  if he promptly complies with any and all
  lawful directions of the department with respect to the cessation of the
  use of water and removal from the premises may recover from the state in
  the Court of Claims the damages resulting  to  him  therefrom,  but  the
  damages   for   improvements   on  state  lands  shall  not  exceed  the
  reconstruction cost. The damages for which the state shall be liable may
  be specified in the license. The state  shall  not  be  liable  for  any
  temporary  interruption  for  the  repair  of or in the operation of the
  canal, and in case of a substantial change in  the  right  or  privilege
  granted, the department, by agreement, may readjust the charge or rental
  with the licensee.
5. The license shall contain a provision in substance that if there be
  a  partial  resumption  of  the use of the water or of the land which is
  covered by the license, the licensee, at his option,  may  continue  for
  the remainder of the term specified in the license to use the residue of
  the  water  and  land  covered  by  the  license,  under  the  terms and
  conditions of the license, or such modified terms as may be agreed upon,
  upon the payment to the state of a  revised  and  readjusted  charge  or
  rental,  and  that if the licensee refuses to accept or continue the use
  of the remaining water and land at the revised  and  readjusted  rental,
  the  license  shall  terminate and the licensee shall have his claim for
  damages as provided by the preceding subdivision.
6. Except as otherwise provided by law, the terms and provisions of  a
  license  may  be altered only by mutual agreement between the department
  and the licensee, after publication as  provided  in  subdivision  1  of
  section  15-0903  of  a  notice  setting forth the time and place of the
  meeting  at  which the proposal to alter the terms and provisions of the
  license will be considered. If by any such agreement the amount of water
  available for use by the licensee is curtailed  or  the  privileges  and
  rights  under  the  license  are  materially changed, the department may
  revise and readjust the rental to be paid.
7. The license may contain a provision to the effect that the licensee
  shall furnish to the state, free of charge or upon terms to be fixed  as
  therein provided, the hydraulic or hydro-electric power required for the
  operation  or  lighting  of  certain  defined state structures, works or
  property.
8. The license may also contain a provision  in  substance,  that  the
  licensee shall obtain the fee simple absolute of, or any lesser interest
  in,  all  property  other  than  that  of  the  state used by him in the
  construction of the project.
9. In issuing licenses for a minor part only of a complete project, or
  for a complete project of not more than one hundred horsepower capacity,
  the department may in its discretion waive such  conditions,  provisions
  and  requirements of title 17 of this article, except the license period
  of fifty years, as it may deem to be to the  public  interest  to  waive
  under the circumstances.
10.  The  department  shall  pay  into  the  state treasury the moneys
  received by it in the course of administering the provisions of title 17
  of this article in the manner provided  by  section  121  of  the  State
  Finance Law.