By Scott Brinton
He would not specify what the wrinkle was. He would only say that it did not involve Freeport, but LIPA and PPL.
PPL, formerly Pennsylvania Power and Light, is in talks with Freeport to construct two 44-megawatt, gas-fired plants at the site of Plant No. 2, which Freeport owns and operates.
Freeport would purchase one of the units from PPL. The energy provider would own the other. LIPA, which brokered the deal along with state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick), has agreed to purchase power from the Freeport unit.
Kessel said the current sticking point in negotiations "is a complicated issue that relates to LIPA's participation in the second unit;" that is, in the PPL plant.
Kessel declined to comment whether the power authority was negotiating to buy power from PPL's unit.
The LIPA chairman did say of negotiations: "We're very close" to reaching a deal, adding, "We're trying to move as quickly as we can."
Sealing the deal would cap a 30-year struggle to shut down Plant No. 2, whose exhaust residents fear causes cancer and surely damages the environment.
The New York State Department of Conservation last year rewrote Plant No. 2's operating permit with tough pollution standards. The plant's old permit, which remains in effect now, contains no emission limits.
The revised permit cannot take effect until public hearings are convened. The DEC has delayed the hearings since October to allow Freeport time to negotiate a deal to close Plant No. 2 on its own.
The DEC had given Freeport a March 27 deadline to conclude negotiations, or public hearings would be scheduled. March 27 has come and gone, and the DEC continues to push back a start date for hearings.
Mark Lowery, the DEC's Long Island spokesperson, said, "We received information that, even though the final deal had not been struck, it was very close. And so, the department concluded that it would be counterproductive to issue a revised permit that we would then almost immediately have to rescind and revise again to reflect the new agreement."
Lowery added, "Negotiations are in a constant state of flux. New circumstances arise that make it impossible to predict what might come next.
"And for that reason, the department has decided it will not set deadlines for the negotiating parties, as we had with the March 27 date, as long as we continue to receive information that the negotiating parties are continuing to make progress."
Joseph Kralovich, president of the Old Lindenmere Civic Association that has led the fight against Plant No. 2 for the past year, expressed disappointment that the hearings were delayed.
He, however, said of the possible deal to close the power plant: "I would imagine that something big is in the works, and I don't want to step in the way now."
