By Scott Brinton
Freeport officials are worried that they would lose the credits worth an estimated $1 million if they shut the plant down this year.
On Monday, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-Brooklyn) came to Freeport to add his voice to a growing chorus of public officials calling for Plant No. 2's closure.
The senator convened a news conference at Bedell's at West Wind restaurant to call on the DEC to resolve the emission-credit issue.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation would give Freeport emission credits if and when it closes the highly polluting Plant No. 2, which it reportedly plans to do. Freeport would then be free to sell the credits on an open market at a profit, according to Ray Cowen, DEC spokesperson.
Emissions credits allow a power plant to emit more pollution than is otherwise permitted under the law. So, they have become a hot commodity in today's energy market, particularly in New York where there's an abundance of older, dirtier power plants that do not comply with the Clean Air Act.
Freeport would be free to sell its credits anywhere in the country, or if it wishes, to keep them for its own power plants.
The government has developed a complex formula to determine the number of credits that a plant is granted. Essentially, the DEC averages the amount of pollution that a plant emits over two straight years. The more pollution, the more credits are granted.
Freeport officials were concerned that the DEC would factor 2002 into Plant No. 2's pollution-credit average. Freeport hasn't run the plant in 2002. Thus, its pollution credits and profit would be severely reduced if the current year were considered, said Cowen. Freeport is reported to put the figure at $1 million.
The concern over emission credits apparently was Freeport's last concern during negotiations with the Long Island Power Authority over an agreement to close Plant No. 2 from March this year through May 2003. The interim shutdown agreement would give PPL Global the energy company selected by the village time to build a set of two clean-burning, gas-fired plants that would replace Freeport's 1969 diesel model. During construction, LIPA would provide energy to Freeport at low cost so that Plant No. 2 would not have to run.
Merrick and Freeport residents have protested Plant No. 2 for more than a year, as they fear the unfiltered diesel exhaust it emits might cause cancer and surely damages the environment.
Hubert Bianco, Freeport Electric superintendent, said that he is committed to seeing Plant No. 2 closed and the gas plants built, but that he also wants to protect Freeport residents' electric rates, which are roughly half those of LIPA customers.
Apparently, the $1 million Freeport might lose would help stabilize Freeport's electric rates, which are slated to rise more than 7 percent.
This last Monday, Bianco said the DEC has been responsive to Freeport's concern over emissions credits. The DEC is being very cooperative so there won't be an adverse impact on Freeport's electric rates, he said. Everyone is moving in the same direction. DEC is very cooperative.
The department, Cowen said, holds the authority to factor in any two of the last five years when determining a plant's emission-credit average. And, he said, the DEC last week expressed its willingness to Freeport to consider 2000 and 2001 the years when the plant has run the most recently when calculating Plant No. 2's credit average.
We are not going to impose on Freeport the onerous requirement that it include 2002, said Cowen.
On Monday, Cowen said he planned to send a letter to Bianco this week, stating that the DEC would not consider 2002 in the emission average.
That same day, Schumer said unequivocally, Plant No. 2 has been around since 1969, polluting our air, our ears and our health. It's dirty. It's noisy. It's a nuisance in every way, shape and form.
Its time has long passed, and there's one and only one thing left for the Village of Freeport to do close it down.
In an interview with the Herald, Schumer said he has followed the Plant No. 2 issue for six months, but has been unable to get involved because of Sept. 11.
Local civic leaders who have fought Plant No. 2 said they welcomed Schumer's involvement, even if it came late. Joseph Kralovich, president of the Old Lindenmere Civic Association in Merrick, said the senator is now his insurance that Plant No. 2 will eventually be shut down.
The deal between the Long Island Power Authority, PPL Global and Freeport to build the gas-fired plants and close Plant No. 2 could fail, despite reports that negotiations are in their final stages.
In that case, said Kralovich, he could return to Schumer and call on him to have the plant shut down. What happened today is that we have insurance just in case this deal doesn't work. A U.S. senator said this plant shouldn't run, and I believe he'll do what he says. We can go to a U.S. senator in case this deal goes bad, said Kralovich.
If the deal fails, Schumer holds the authority to call on the federal Environmental Protection Agency to order an immediate halt to operations at the plant, as it violates the Clean Air Act, according to Keri Powell, an attorney with the New York Public Interest Research Group. The plant has been allowed to pollute without limit since it opened.
Meanwhile, if LIPA, Freeport and PPL Global do not reach an agreement by March 27, the DEC will restart public hearings over Power Plant No. 2's Title V operating permit, Cowen said during an interview in recent weeks.
The department has stalled the hearings since October to give the three parties breathing room in negotiating an agreement to close the diesel plant permanently.
