By Scott Brinton
Anthony Cava, a DEC solid and hazardous materials engineer, made the announcement during an Old Lindenmere Civic Association meeting at Merrick Library on Thursday. The hearings should start again in March, after having been delayed since late October when they first began.
Cava said the DEC had stopped the hearings in part to give Freeport Village breathing room in negotiating a deal to bring in an outside electric provider, which could build a clean-burning, gas-fired plant to replace the two 1969 diesel ship engines that run Plant No. 2.
The negotiations seemed to be progressing quickly, but now they "appear to have slowed down," he said. Thus, DEC officials "believe it is necessary to move ahead.
"At this time," Cava said, "we will proceed as if [a deal] is not in the offing."
Plant No. 2 has no pollution controls, and Merrick and Freeport residents fear that the unfiltered diesel exhaust it emits might cause cancer. Numerous federal and state agencies label diesel exhaust as a carcinogen or probable carcinogen.
Plant No. 2's current Title V permit contains no emissions limits. The revised permit, over which the hearings are to be held, contains strict limits for particulate (soot), nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide. The new limits can be found in the State Implementation Plan for the federal Clean Air Act, said DEC Administrative Law Judge Molly McBride during the first legislative hearing over Freeport's Title V permit on Oct. 22.
Enforcing the revised permit could force Freeport to close Plant No. 2 or have pollution controls installed there to meet the new requirements.
At last Thursday's civic meeting, state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) said that he immediately called Ray Cowen, DEC regional director, to get the power-plant hearings jump-started, after he read in the Herald about a stalemate between the DEC and the village over the proceedings. [For complete story, check out www.liherald.com, Merrick Herald, Power Plant archive, "Plant hearings in limbo."]
Cava could not predict how long the hearings would take after they begin anew. He has seen such hearings last anywhere from a month to as long as a year and a half for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which he called a much larger undertaking than he expected with Plant No. 2. He said with certainty that the plant would not be shut down this summer, unless Freeport reaches a deal to open a new plant and close the old one.
He also said the hearings were necessary to give Freeport Village "due process" under the law. Freeport has challenged the revised permit from the start, calling it "inconsistent" with state law and public policy that calls for additional sources of electric generation.
Residents angry
Residents lambasted the DEC last Thursday for delaying the hearings from October to March.
"You are our power," Dr. Brad Lindell of Merrick told Cava. "You have the power to force Freeport to do something. You've done nothing," adding, "You tell us why we should trust you."
Referring to the possible health threat that the plant poses to children, Cindy Crociata, also of Merrick, said, "I am begging for the DEC to do whatever they can as expeditiously as possible."
David Denenberg (D-Merrick), Nassau County legislator, said the DEC "stopped the due process [for residents] for no reason" when it halted the hearings.
Cava replied, "If you have the feeling that we aren't out for your interest, you're wrong."
Fuschillo, who with LIPA Chairman Richard Kessel brokered the deal to bring a gas-fired plant to Freeport, said, "The problem [for residents with the DEC] is the credibility issue."
The new plant
If Freeport seals a deal to build the gas-fired plant, it would not be permitted to run both the new and old plants simultaneously, said Cava. A condition of Freeport's permit for the new plant would be that Plant No. 2 was "fully decommissioned," even if that meant pouring cement down the plant's smokestacks, he said.
Stewart Lilker, a Freeport civic activist, had uncovered a public bid from Pennsylvania Power and Light that sought to "maximize the use of fuel oil" at the new power plant, which has many residents alarmed.
Ajay Shah, a DEC air pollution engineer, addressed residents' concerns that the new plant would run on oil as well as gas. He said the plant would be a dual fuel plant, but that oil would be used in emergencies only. Freeport cannot get what is termed "a non-interruptible" gas supply, meaning that it must be prepared with a backup fuel. Only gas suppliers such as KeySpan receive non-interruptible supplies.
Additionally, the DEC would limit the number of hours the new plant could run on fuel oil in its Title V permit, Shah said. He could not comment further, however, because Freeport had not yet submitted a permit application.
Residents said they feared that Freeport would not abide by conditions of the new permit and would run the plant on fuel oil more than was allowed. Cava said that potentially the DEC could require a flow meter to monitor the plant's use of fuel oil, but he made no promises.
Freeport Electric Superintendent Hubert Bianco said that the municipal utility "intends to maximize the use of natural gas as fuel for the proposed generation project.
"Low-sulfur fuel oil will only be used for emergency backup when natural-gas supply from KeySpan is interrupted. Reliance on natural gas is better for the environment, allows the units to run more hours and reduces facility-maintenance costs."
Another Freeport representative also said that the new plant must have a backup fuel to meet requirements of the New York State Independent Service Operator, a non-profit agency which is charged with managing New York's power grid under deregulation.
Kenneth Klapp, an ISO spokesman, said that the plant must have a backup fuel, but that the Public Service Commission issued the requirement, not the ISO.
The Old Lindenmere Civic Association is planning a second protest against Power Plant No. 2, with a date, time and place to be announced.
