By Dustin Brown
More than a year has passed since community activists, politicians and a movie studio began their legal battle against the New York Power Authority’s decision to rapidly install 10 natural-gas turbines around the city to stave off what state officials then described as a looming power crisis.
Since then, one lawsuit was settled out of court when the Power Authority told Silvercup Studios it would eventually remove two waterfront turbines which had been thwarting the studio’s expansion plans in Long Island City.
The other lawsuit was decided on appeal in favor of community activists from around the city, who demanded that the Power Authority complete an environmental impact statement on the health effects of its new generators.
But even as the legal fight dies down, the community’s struggle against power plants and air pollution — an ongoing conflict in which the NYPA lawsuits made up only one battle — is pushing forward via activism and the will of their legislators.
A year later, the city no longer faces a potential power shortage, and activists have seized the opportunity to press the governor to come up with a plan that addresses the city’s energy needs well into the future.
“If you have a comprehensive energy plan, you can say, ‘If New York City needs electricity, maybe we can come up with the best technology, clean technology and the most efficient way to meet those demands,’” said Lisa Garcia of the New York Public Interest Research Group, which spearheaded one of the lawsuits.
But Tom Collins, a spokesman with the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority, said the state has already drafted an energy plan, as it does every four years, which “looks at the energy picture in New York” and “serves as a policy guideline for legislators and regulators.” The public will be given the opportunity to comment on the plan at hearings in Manhattan and Brooklyn Feb. 26 and Feb. 27.
Earlier this month, politicians and community activists stood on the steps of City Hall to demand that Gov. George Pataki agree to remove the 10 turbines and come up with a pollution-offset plan to improve the air quality in affected communities.
“We’re really looking at the big picture and hoping to see a zero increase in overall emissions for our local community,” said Beth Cullinane of Better Queens Environment. “We always have to look to the future to see that we can do better in terms of the air quality and the health.”
Meanwhile, politicians on the city and state level are introducing legislation that would help mitigate the negative impact of power plants in western Queens, an area activists say is oversaturated with them.
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) introduced a resolution earlier this month calling for the state to provide reduced energy rates for people who live near power plants.
State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), who already got a law passed that encourages power companies to clean up old plants rather than building new ones, expects to introduce the bill in the state legislature.
The 10 plants are still humming on six sites around the city, including the Vernon Boulevard plot that Silvercup is eyeing for development, where two turbines send their hazy plumes into the air alongside the Queensboro Bridge.
Silvercup is satisfied because the studio will get the first chance to buy the land the turbines now occupy, which sits alongside a plot the studio already owns.
But the community activists from around the city who filed their lawsuit as a coalition are not convinced that the Power Authority has met its obligations as ordered by the court.
“While they did comply with the order in completing the environmental impact statement, we don’t necessarily agree with the decision that these plants will have no health impact on the community,” Garcia said.
The coalition is looking for a guarantee that NYPA will eventually remove the generators from each of the six sites around the city.
“Here’s an opportunity for people to come to the table to talk, instead of going back to court and litigating,” Garcia said.
But in response to the activists’ demands, NYPA spokesman Luis Rodriguez said “these units are urgently needed and they are going to continue to generate power until they’re not needed anymore.”
In Queens, the agreement with Silvercup guarantees that the turbines will be removed by 2004 so long as one of two larger power plants being planned for northern Astoria begins operating by then.
But the settlement received little praise from community activists, in part because the generators will likely be sold to Keyspan for use on that company’s Ravenswood site, located north of the Queensboro Bridge on Vernon Boulevard.
However, the activists would support Keyspan’s use of the turbines — which are considered relatively clean and modern — to replace a series of peaking units that generate power at times of high demand but produce notorious levels of pollution.
“They’re actually like jet engines,” said Tony Gigantiello, the president of the community environmental group CHOKE. “They’re very dirty. You can see the yellow plumes coming up when they’re running.”
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
