By Scott Brinton
The morning of June 16 opened with a light rain lasting no more than three minutes. Then, they were off at 10:15 a.m.
An estimated 200 to 300 protesters marched west on Merrick Road from the Four Towns Four Towns Fire Training in Merrick, over the Meadowbrook Parkway bridge and into Freeport. As they slowly walked, they shouted cries of opposition to the Village of Freeport's diesel Power Plant No. 2.
People said repeatedly that they fear the health threats that the plant might pose. The State of California has declared diesel exhaust a known carcinogen, meaning that it causes cancer. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, which calls diesel exhaust a "probable carcinogen," says that it can also inflame respiratory conditions, such as asthma.
The plant, people noted, has no pollution controls.
The protesters said they were most concerned about young people's health, and dozens of babies and children, in strollers or atop their parents' shoulders, joined the marchers' ranks.
Bob Young of Merrick, a chief organizer of the rally, was referring to the plant's diesel exhaust that blows into his neighborhood when he told the crowd, "You have a right to self-defense. ... You have a right not to be poisoned."
A second rally is planned for September, Young said. The next organizing meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 28, at the Merrick Public Library on Merrick Avenue.
Protesters came from Merrick-North Merrick, Freeport, Bellmore-North Bellmore, Wantagh-Seaford, and some from as far as East Meadow, Long Beach, Bethpage and New York City.
On their way to the tan, brick Plant No. 2 on Buffalo Avenue, marchers made their way through the grayness of Freeport's industrial park, passing the abandoned shell of the village's Albany Avenue incinerator, warehouses with tractor-trailers out front, cinder-block fences, empty parking lots and mounds of garbage.
All the while, they walked under Freeport Police escort, chanting, "Rain, rain, what do you say? Make the sulfur go away!" The reference was to the sulfur dioxide that the plant gives off.
Rally follows march
Upon arriving at Plant No. 2's chain-link gate, protesters staged a 20-minute rally, with the 100-foot-tall plant looming across an overcast sky in the background.
Vincent Greco, a rally speaker, is a Freeport civic leader who has fought the plant almost since it opened in 1970. He now serves with Joseph Kralovich of Merrick as a co-chairman of CHOKE (Coalition Helping to Organize a Cleaner Environment), a group of South Shore residents whose aim is to have pollution controls installed at Plant No. 2 or have it shut down.
Greco believes the plant's exhaust causes cancer. He told protesters that he quickly compiled a list of 20 people "in the immediate area" of his home who died of cancer. Greco noted that he lives only 500 feet across the bay from the plant.
Barry Fox, also a speaker and president of the Merrick Park Home Owners Association, came dressed in black Grim Reaper's outfit. He called himself the "Toxic Avenger." Pointing to a plastic scythe in his hand, Fox said, "This staff is a symbol of death. That plant is real death. It's a toxic time bomb."
Fox also said, "We're not here to hurt anybody. We're not here to close this plant. We're here to clean it up."
Then, Kralovich, who rally organizers said has waged a "lonely fight" against the plant so far, took the microphone. He announced that the state Department of Environmental Conservation would rewrite Plant No. 2's Title V operating permit.
State Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick), who has worked with the DEC in recent months to bring tighter emissions enforcement at the plant, had earlier in the day provided Kralovich with a photocopy of a letter from Ray Cowen, the DEC regional director for Long Island. Kralovich read the letter, which is addressed to Freeport Electric Superintendent Hubert Bianco. In part, it states, "A review of your Title V permit, one of the first issued by the [DEC], has indicated more stringent emission limits and monitoring conditions must be included in your permit."
Specifically, the letter says the plant must meet particulate matter (soot) and oxides of nitrogen requirements that are enforceable at the federal and state levels. Right now, the plant is allowed to emit particulate and NOX without restriction, according to its 1998 DEC permit.
Kralovich said of the DEC decision to reopen the permit: "Hopefully, if we're vigilant, it's a good step to cleaning [Plant No. 2] up or closing it down."
Also among the protesters were Merrick Schools Superintendent Ronald Smith, Board of Education President Louis Kruh, Trustees Martin Valk and Diane Seaman, and Trustee-elect Jonathan Davis.
Three local elected officials, Fuschillo, county Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) and state Assemblywoman Kathleen Murray (R-Levittown), were among the marchers. Fuschillo and Denenberg have said the plant should be shut down.
Fuschillo is now locked in negotiations between the Long Island Power Authority and the Village of Freeport to cut a deal that might close the plant. He also said a program bill in the works at Governor Pataki's office would address Plant No. 2. He offered no details about the measure, but said it would require approval by the state Legislature.
LIPA Chairman Richard Kessel of Merrick attended the rally. A week earlier, he told the Herald that, hypothetically, the power authority could provide the village with a temporary generator on Sunrise Highway. Meanwhile, a private utility, perhaps KeySpan, could rebuild the plant using the latest, cleanest technology, such as natural gas, shutting down diesel operations there. KeySpan would then provide electricity to the village and LIPA.
Kessel noted, though, that Freeport officials must agree to such a deal.
Mayor's response
In a prepared statement to the media, Freeport Mayor William Glacken said the village was exploring with LIPA and KeySpan alternatives to running Plant No. 2. He also said the village has commissioned a study to evaluate alternatives and decide on "the best course to follow." If Plant No. 2 were simply to close, he said, Freeport's electric rates could rise by 70 percent, because the village would be forced to import electricity from the outside.
"We will not allow that to happen," the mayor said.
Freeport's rates are now half that of LIPA's. The village currently imports more than 50 percent of its electricity from the New York Power Authority upstate.
Glacken also said Freeport would face $6 million in fines over three years from the New York Independent Operator System, if it were to take the plant off-line. The Independent Operator System is a non-profit regulatory agency formed in 1999 to manage New York's power grid under deregulation. Its board of directors comprises utility, consumer and environmental representatives, as well as members of Pataki's administration. Freeport Electric Superintendent Hubert Bianco has represented the village on ISO committees.
ISO spokesman Kenneth Klapp could not say whether the village would be fined $6 million, but it would have to pay a penalty, if it were to shut down the plant without another generator to take its place, he said.
Here's why:
After deregulation took effect in New York in 1999, the state Energy Reliability Council was set up to ensure New York has enough electric generation to meet its needs, which are continually rising in the new, high-technology economy. The council and ISO developed regulations that require a municipality like Freeport to maintain enough "installed capacity" to avoid a power shortage. Installed capacity is a power-industry term for electric-generation capability. The state also requires that Freeport maintain the ability to generate 18 percent more electricity than its "peak-load capacity"; that is, the most electricity it will need on a given day during the year, usually the hottest day of the summer.
In other parts of the state, a municipal electric company could count imported electricity toward its installed capacity. However, on Long Island, where transmission lines are reported to be unreliable, the state requires Freeport and other municipalities to maintain 98 percent of installed capacity, or generation capability, on Long Island, Klapp said.
"It's unique from most situations," he said.
Klapp noted, though, that there's nothing specifically requiring Freeport to continue running Plant No. 2 to meet its installed capacity requirements. If the plant were to close, the village would "have the option of securing additional installed capacity."
