New York City mulls law to cut power plant emissions
© 2000 Reuters Limited
September 8, 2000
Story by Scott Disavino
NEW YORK - New York City is weighing a law requiring power plant owners with more than 4,000 megawatts (MW) of electrical generation to slash ozone-causing carbon dioxide emissions at facilities in the city or face stiff fines.
"New York's utility owners must be held accountable for the pollution they are creating," New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone said in a statement announcing the bill yesterday.
The legislation comes in response to the deregulation of the electric utility industry, which has prompted a host of proposals for as many as ten new power plants to be constructed amid the City's older, more polluting plants.
Speaker Vallone, who has long opposed expanding power plants unless such a plan is combined with retiring the city's 12 existing plants, said the bill would cut carbon dioxide emissions by up to 30 percent within five years of enactment.
"Deregulation came with many promises, not the least of which was cleaner air," said Vallone. "Yet, state regulators have done nothing to address these urgent environmental concerns.
"We will not allow this new marketplace for electricity to put public health, air, land, and water in jeopardy," Vallone said.
Under the bill, utility owners would be required to pay steep fines for generators that emit levels of carbon dioxide that exceed the limits established by an independent board.
"With these fines, it won't be in the best interest of power plants to continue relying on the older more polluting facilities," Vallone explained.
"In effect, we're making it unprofitable to pollute."
The 12 operating power plants in New York City with more than 100 MW of capacity are:
- Minneapolis-based NRG Energy Inc.'s 335-MW Arthur Kill 2 and 491-MW Arthur Kill 3 oil/gas-fired units in Staten Island, in operation since 1959 and 1969, respectively.
- Baltimore-based Orion Power Holdings Inc.'s 353-MW Astoria 3, 361-MW Astoria 4 and 361-MW Astoria steam turbine number 5 oil/gas-fired units in Queens, in operation since 1958, 1961 and 1962, respectively.
Privately-held Orion, which expects to go public by the end of 2000, is owned by New York City-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. and Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. .
- New York City-based Consolidated Edison Inc.'s 130-MW East River 6 and 170-MW East River 7 oil/gas-fired units, in operation since 1958 and 1961, respectively.
- Brooklyn, N.Y.-based KeySpan Corp.'s 385-MW Ravenswood 1, 385-MW Ravenswood 2 and 972-MW Ravenswood 3 oil/gas-fired units in Queens, in operation since 1963, 1963 and 1965, respectively.
- KeySpan's 106-MW Far Rockaway 4 gas/oil-fired unit in Queens, in operation since 1953.
- New York Power Authority's 825-MW Poletti oil/gas-fired unit in Queens, in operation since 1977.