Power Play

Williamsburg residents rally to stop new power plants from polluting the neighborhood
by Carol Schwarzman

Question: When is a power plant not a power plant?

Answer: When it’s a 79.9MW "peaking facility."

Call them whatever you like, the New York State Power Authority (NYPA), in separate partnerships with two private energy companies, is planning to build three new power facilities in Williamsburg on the East River.

In a land-grab which has been described as "helter-skelter," "chaotic," and "crazy," NYPA, with either Sunset Energy Fleet, LLC or New York City Energy, LLC, has plans for a total of eleven new power projects in Brooklyn and the Bronx. As a result of deregulation, State law no longer requires strict environmental review or thorough public notification of power projects of less than 80MW. Consequently, even though the three Williamsburg projects are all within an eight-block stretch of waterfront and their combined output totals over 203MW, each is treated separately in terms of permitting and environmental impact.

Good for business and, perhaps, a quick fix for energy needs — bad for the community.

The Technical Stuff

According to NYPA, a "peaking facility" is designed to handle summer overloading and to provide temporary power for the city until larger plants are completed in the future. The 79.9MW NISA project, slated for Kent Avenue at Division Street in Wallabout Channel, is described as a co-generation power barge using natural gas and diesel fuel. A power barge is a pre-fabricated facility that is installed on the water, near the shore. Unfortunately, NISA’s permitting sets no actual limit on the amount of natural gas which can be burned by the project over any specified time. This "peaking facility" can legally operate throughout the year. What’s more, power generated here in Williamsburg will not be used locally, but will be sent to other areas in Brooklyn and Queens.

NYPA has stated that the NISA Project alone will emit 148 tons of airborne pollutants annually. These include sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds such as benzo(a)pyrene and formaldehyde. The three Williamsburg projects combined (the NYPA Power Plant and the First Rochedale Plant would both be located at Kent Avenue and North 1st Street) will unleash 1,000 tons of these substances a year. The effects of these and other pollutants not listed by NISA’s documentation include suppression of the immune system, increased sensitivity to allergens, inflammation of the throat and lungs, chest pain, asthma and increased asthma attacks — particularly in children, resulting, of course, in increased school absences. And this in a neighborhood which currently suffers the third highest asthma rate in the city.

Additional sources of pollution will be noise, steam (resulting in ground effect fogging on a major truck route) and extremely low frequency electro-magnetic fields, which have been linked to childhood leukemia. The prevailing easterly winds from the East River will blow all contaminants, sound and water vapor into the surrounding residentially-zoned neighborhoods. Directly across from the NISA site are three loft buildings housing mostly artists, two Hasidic schools — one with a rooftop playground, three city parks within just three blocks, and residential areas. To the north and south along the river, apartment complexes are currently planned and under construction. One project is designed by the City for middle and low-income housing.

An Accidental Discovery by an Artist

On September 14, 2000, neighborhood artist Simon Lee visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ office to apply for a permit for mooring his boat across the street from his building, in the Wallabout Channel. While filling out his application, Lee was shocked to find that another party had also filed for a permit for the channel – a power company looking to moor a 90-by-270 foot electricity-generating barge. In other words, a large power plant complete with smokestacks, noise and pollution would be operating as early as this summer in his very own front yard.

That same day, Lee contacted another artist in the building, Debra Masters, and described the situation. The serendipitous discovery of what had up to that time been unknown to the community — coupled with Masters’ years of experience in environmental activism — amounted to a bad piece of luck for big business. The cat was out of the bag, and had been laid at the doorstep of the former Neighborhood Environmental Watchperson (Masters) and a building full of people willing to organize.

Masters and Lee, together with other tenants, including Kathleen Gilrain, Guy Lesser and Alison Dell – who just happens to hold a Masters degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy, formed Stop the Barge, which has gone on to organize against all three Williamsburg projects. Stop the Barge has been the driving force behind educating the community and working with public officials – and uncovering background information which had been all but hidden from the public.

"That day, I immediately tried to get a look at the project papers filed by New York City Energy," said Masters in an interview, "but because the public review deadline had passed, I was forced to file a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request. I xeroxed documents for two days and slowly realized how serious it would be if this thing went through." Masters found out that the NISA project had originally been sited in 1996 within the Brooklyn Navy Yard, reasonably far away from residential neighborhoods. A collapsed pier caused the project owners to re-site in 1999 to Wallabout Channel, which is on the border of highly-populous Community Board 1. Somehow, the Community Board had failed to respond to NISA’s public notification and to alert the community.

In a separate interview, Alison Dell explained that NISA’s 1996 permit application originally called for a steam generator designed specifically for the Navy Yard. "Four years later, this is the same permit with the site changed and capacity doubled. The environmental effects of steam generation differ greatly from co-generation using natural gas and diesel. Emissions of smaller particulate matter from natural gas and diesel fuel have a good surface that provides an excellent vehicle for transporting pollutants deeper into the lungs – easier to inhale, harder to exhale."

Dell also pointed out that power developers look to site polluting projects in neighborhoods whose air quality is suffering. "’Significant impact’ on a community’s air quality must be shown to be negative," she said. That is, in a neighborhood where pollution percentages run high, additional pollution may not be deemed to cause a "significant impact."

The Public Hearings

Within two months’ time, Stop the Barge had collected 2,500 petition signatures and forced the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to hold a public hearing on the NISA project. "But we’re getting screwed," says Masters, "The DEC is merely pretending to indulge us. The judge appointed to the hearing has stated that there is no issue because we missed the deadline for public comments."

Two public hearings, the first for the NISA project, the second for the First Rochedale and NYPA Power plants, were held on December 12th and 14th. Attended by approximately seven hundred and a thousand people, respectively, these were great turnouts, particularly since neither hearing was held in Williamsburg and both took place on nights of below-freezing weather. Many were able to attend by hopping aboard shuttle buses provided by Stop the Barge and Neighbors Against Garbage. Speakers included public officials, members of Wiliamsburg’s ethnic communities, civic and environmental organizations, and people from other neighborhoods, including Manhattan. The message from all was loud and clear: "This is wrong. A community has the right to be involved in making the decisions that effect its quality of life. We will fight to have our say and we will be heard."

Douglas Ward, an environmental attorney from Albany who represents Stop the Barge, stated that he, "had never seen an application as carefully designed to give as little information as possible," as the NISA project’s. He also claimed that since "the door is as close to being closed on public comments as it possibly could be," community members must demand an open, public and adjuticatory hearing. Perhaps the most memorable speaker of the evening was young Amanda Montaldo who stated simply, "I have lived in Williamsburg all my life. I have asthma. I don’t want the power barge."

The Big Picture

Stop the Barge has also gained powerful allies. The Natural Resource Defense Council is opposed to the three Williamsburg projects, and to all similar projects in the city. "Crazy ideas like the NYPA turbines and the power barges are of specifically great concern. They are total failures as responses to the City’s energy requirements — as well as to environmental goals," says Ashok Gupta, a Senior Staff Scientist at NRDC. "We must have an overall understanding of what’s needed in terms of power. No one is asking if there are better options. Instead, [it’s] just a random, chaotic process, which leaves the public confused and having no choice but to say no."

"The clean technology [for urban electricity] is out there and balanced solutions can be reached," says Gupta. In terms of global initiatives to protect the Earth’s atmosphere (like the1997 Kyoto Protocol), he adds, "the proposed Williamsburg projects show absolutely no correlation or sensitivity," to protecting air quality. He feels that there must be leadership in the City or State, "that will force an overall assessment of energy needs and community concerns."

That’s precisely what State Assemblyman Joe Lentol is trying to do. This past fall, he introduced two bills that call for moratoriums on issuing certificates and sites for major electric generating facilities, "to allow the City…to review its waterfront plan and policy… so that the demands of this industry do not override Citywide plans for the waterfront."

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez "has been tremendously helpful," according to Masters. Velazquez also donated her speaker car for neighborhood canvassing prior to the public hearings. City Councilman Ken Fisher and State Senator Martin Connor have been supportive of Stop the Barge’s efforts. The New York Public Interest Research Group, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the New York Harbor Bay Keeper are organizations that are considering legal action against NYPA and the private developers.

As Usual, It Comes Down to the Community

Community groups such as Neighbors Against Garbage, Los Sures, El Puente, Brooklyn Legal Services and The Southside Community Mission have worked to get the word out to members. Even the C-Town supermarket at Division and Wythe Streets sent out 9,000 Stop the Barge public hearing inserts in its weekly flyers — and carried the extra cost.

Williamsburg has a strong history of environmental activism — and of winning its fights.

Carol Schwarzman is an artist and writer living in Williamsburg.