By Scott Brinton
Many said last year that exhaust from the plant made their neighborhoods smell like the Port Authority bus terminal in New York City.
In fact, the plant can produce as much exhaust as 150 to 180 18-wheel tractor-trailers per hour. The California Air Resources Board has declared diesel exhaust a known carcinogen, meaning it causes cancer. So, many residents say they're not only fearful that the plant will continually operate during the warmer months to meet higher electric demand, they're terrified.
Many had hoped that a deal between Freeport Village and the Long Island Power Authority could be reached in time to replace Plant No. 2 with a clean-burning, gas-fired model before summer.
Freeport Electric Superintendent Hubert Bianco says he's close to sealing a deal with an outside electric provider to build a gas plant. On Tuesday, he named the project developer PPL Global of Fairfax, Va., a subsidiary of the PPL Corporation, formerly Pennsylvania Power and Light.
Given that installation of the plant would require six months to a year, however, there appears to be no way a replacement for Plant No. 2 will be operational by summer. That leaves many to wonder whether or not the diesel plant will run come June, July and August.
An agreement, though, may be in the works between LIPA and Freeport Village that could have Merrick-Bellmore and Freeport residents breathing easier this summer.
Four weeks ago, state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) had asked Freeport and LIPA to explore a deal in which LIPA would provide electricity for the village so it could get through the summer without Plant No. 2. My understanding is that both parties have met and negotiations are going well, said Fuschillo.
LIPA Chairman Richard Kessel of Merrick declined to offer specifics about the possible deal. He did say he was working on a global agreement with Freeport that would include:
n Shutdown of Plant No. 2 this summer.
n Permanent closure of the plant over the long term, including having it rendered inoperable, as Merrick civic leaders have demanded.
n And construction of the modern, gas-fired plant to provide electricity to Freeport Village and LIPA.
Village officials say they are preparing an Environmental Quality Review for the new gas plant.
Plant hearings
Meanwhile, the DEC is ready to move ahead with public hearings for Plant No. 2's revised Title V operating permit. The DEC rewrote the permit last summer to include pollution standards after Merrick and Freeport civic activists protested the current permit, which contains no such provisions.
The revised permit can only take effect after hearings are complete.
The hearings process started last October, but was delayed until now because, DEC officials said, the agency had to sift through a large volume of public comment about the new permit.
Mark Lowery, DEC spokesperson for Long Island, said the agency is putting final touches on yet another revised permit, which it reworked to address public concerns raised at the first hearing Oct. 22. He would not say how the permit was revised, only that it was made more stringent.
On March 6, the DEC is to issue the new permit on its Web site (www.dec.state.ny.us, Environmental Notice Bulletin, found near the top of the home page).
At that time, a 30-day public comment period will begin for the revised permit, said Lowery.
He expects that a legislative hearing, at which anyone can speak, will be held on the new permit in late March or early April.
After that, the DEC could convene an adjudicatory hearing, at which witnesses for the DEC and Freeport Village could be called. By appealing the revised permit if and when the DEC declares it binding, Freeport could delay enforcement of its terms by one to three years, said Lowery.
Activist reacts
At this point, Joseph Kralovich, the Old Lindenmere Civic Association president who has led the fight against Plant No. 2 for more than a year, is growing battle-weary.
He no longer believes that the DEC will enforce a more-stringent permit for Plant No. 2. The DEC is not going to do anything, because they don't want to be embarrassed for not having done anything for 30 years, he said. (Since the plant opened in 1970, it has operated without having to meet any pollution standard.)
Kralovich also said, I'm tired. I'm disgusted. I've lost faith in the laws. How much more is a community expected to do to ensure that pollution standards are enforced at Plant No. 2?
He's now writing to state Comptroller Carl McCall, asking the gubernatorial candidate to examine the village's finances and the relationship between its overall operating budget and that for Freeport Electric.
Kralovich believes the village in part supports its general fund with monies from Freeport Electric. And, if Freeport Village were to make money from Plant No. 2 by selling electricity from it on the open market, that might explain why village officials are reluctant to disable it permanently.
Bianco said Freeport has absolutely committed to decommissioning Plant No. 2 and will surrender its permit to the DEC.
After negotiations with PPL Global are complete, the village will develop a decommissioning plan for Plant No. 2, he said.
