Clean Energy Comes to the Valley
by Warren P. Reiss
Judge Recommends Dry Cooling for Bowline 3
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Administrative Law Judge Kevin Casutto recommended that the proposed third unit at the Bowline generating plant in the Village of Haverstraw in Rockland County use closed-cycle dry cooling, if and when the facility is built. The decision culminates a yearlong review process, during which Scenic Hudson, Inc. worked closely with Riverkeeper to successfully argue for the requirement.
Dry cooling significantly reduces the amount of water used by the plant, virtually eliminating the impacts to sensitive Hudson River fisheries. The technology also eliminates all cooling tower steam plumes, lessening the plant's visual impact. Judge Casutto's ruling follows a similar DEC mandate in 2000 that required dry cooling at the Athens Generating Company, LLP plant in the Town of Athens in Greene County.
During the proceedings Scenic Hudson, represented by Victor Tafur of the Pace Energy Project, submitted testimony on the economic feasibility of dry cooling, the environmental and visual impacts of cooling towers and steam plumes, and the effects that water withdrawals have on fisheries.
The judge's recommended decision now goes to DEC Commissioner Erin M. Crotty, who is expected to rule on the matter in early 2002. Stay tuned.
Albany Steam Station to be Retired
For more than half a century, the Albany Steam Station, a 400-megawatt, oil- and gas-fired electric generating plant, has operated on the banks of the Hudson River in the Town of Bethlehem, just south of the City of Albany. This Albany County facility's outdated technology and once-through cooling system are highly polluting, inefficient and water-consumptive. All that will
soon change.
Pursuant to a negotiated settlement, PSEG Power New York Inc. will construct a new, state-of-the-art 750-megawatt plant adjacent to the existing facility. The company has agreed to retire the old plant when the new one is ready for service. Thus, unlike other new power plant proposals, this one comes with a guarantee that it will displace an outdated facility.
The new plant will use cleaner combustion technology and a closed-loop cooling system to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 73 percent, sulfur dioxide emissions by 92 percent and water consumption by 99 percent.
Scenic Hudson worked closely with Riverkeeper, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Rensselaer County Environmental Management Council throughout the review and negotiation process. |
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| The Bowline generating plant in Rockland County. |
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