Monday, August 29, 2011

Surprise pollution increase in Astoria

From the Daily News:

An Astoria power plant is attempting to clean up its act by swapping out one of its aging generators for two new, more environmentally friendly ones.

The only catch is that Astoria Generating Company's roughly $750 million Luyster Creek Energy Project may actually be permitted to increase pollution in the area.

That fact wasn't made clear at a public hearing Wednesday in Astoria on the proposed 410-megawatt facility. And that's worrying local elected officials.

Community members can submit written comments about the proposal - which needs state approval - to the Department of Environmental Conservation through Sept. 9.

The company hopes to receive the necessary permits by the end of the year and start construction by the spring of 2013, a company official said.

The two new generators would go live in 2015 and allow the plant to produce about 16% more electricity, the official said.

"The overall plan is expected to reduce emissions," said project manager David Perri, who works for US Power Generating Company, which oversees Astoria Generating Company.

The Luyster Creek plan would swap out one old generator for two cleaner-burning ones, and lower emissions of two other generators that are about 50 years old, Perri said.

But regulatory permits could actually allow the company to produce more pollution overall in Astoria.

For example, the plant would be allowed to increase its overall carbon monoxide output by almost 89 tons a year, Perri said. Nitrogen oxide could go up by almost 25 tons annually.



5 comments:

Joe said...

What is the Daily News talking about ?
Dont they consult a staff engineer before publishing what they been told ?
Generators don't cause pollution !
Its the power sources that turn generators(coal fired steam turbines, Diesel, gas turbines combined with old grandfathered scrubber stacks that cause the pollution.

What a clandestine crock !!

Anonymous said...

heh heh heh

Good Joe but can we add that electric generation, not idle plants, makes pollution

which is from increased demand

which is from the same elected officials going along with the Mayor and adding tens of thousands of people into their community

without adding infrastructure or letting the people know the downside of this overdevelopmnet.

But knowing Astoria, even if they did, the locals response would be to ask their electeds

"I dunno - what do you think? Can I still sell my 150 year old house for development?"

ew-3 said...

Joe - In the hot metal days of typesetting Linotype operators were truly well versed in many subjects and could actually proofread for content.
Now that these folks are gone, there is less checking going on and what little does get done is done by people with little knowledge of the real world.

FWIW - was one of the engineers that installed the first cold metal typesetting systems at the News. (and the editorial system as well.)

Anonymous said...

Probably from the hookah shops.

Anonymous said...

Great, so now that ugly power plant can pollute Astoria for another 50 years??