ACTION ALERT !! Dear Fellow Community Member: We are writing to ask your help to save our community from yet another environmental and economic disaster. We had hoped that the new Brookhaven Town Board would work on our behalf on this issue. Sadly, this has not been the case. In fact, just the opposite has happened. If a developer came to the town to build a big box store, the Town would hire their own environmental and traffic engineers. However, when LIPA and Caithness proposed building their 350-mega watt Power Plant – the largest Power Plant to be built in recent history – in our very own backyard, the only experts the Town Board is listening to are the ones who have been bought and paid for by LIPA and Caithness. No independent environmental analysis, no independent economic analysis, no determination as to need or long-term benefit has ever been undertaken by our Town Board. Through the lawsuit we brought and the diligent work of our community , we have learned that there are major problems with this Power Plant: Environmental: Putting aside the pollution to our air, based on comments made by the Town’s own environmental expert, a well-known and credentialed botanist was hired to look at the site. He has stated in an affidavit that there is a rare pine barrens ecosystem on the 15-acre site where the Power Plant will be built. The Town Board, just like LIPA, has ignored this report. Community Benefits Package: The Town Supervisor and Councilwoman Kepert announced their support of a $150 million dollar “Community Benefit Package” at a January 25th press conference. This was done only three weeks after they took office and without the benefit of any questions or analyses done on the proposed Power Plant. When questioned where LIPA got the authority to give Long Island ratepayers’ money to the various entities, LIPA responded in an affidavit filed in court that there is no community benefit package, since neither the LIPA Board or the New York State Comptroller has approved it. So, now we learn that there could be a Power Plant without any community benefit package. Empire Zone Credits: LIPA contends that one of the prime economic advantages to building the Caithness Power Plant on this site was the $72 million in Empire Zone Credits. However, it is widely known that the Power Plant is not eligible for these credits. In papers submitted to the court, LIPA stated that they would move ahead with the Power Plant without the Empire Zone Credits. This action raises the question of the whole economics of the Power Plant, the impact on ratepayers and why would the Town allow a power plant that does not bring economic development in the Empire Zone. Repowering: At a recent Town Board meeting a representative of LIPA stated that if the Caithness Power Plant were built, repowering the older plants, specifically Port Jefferson would follow. However, in court papers, LIPA clearly stated: “LIPA does not own any Power Plants on Long Island, and therefore is not in any position to repower such Plants…” These are just some of the more glaring issues that have not been addressed by the Town Board. Our community has been dumped on enough. (See report below!) FACT SHEET ON LIPA's PROPOSED CAITHNESS LONG ISLAND ENERGY CENTER What is the proposed Caithness Long Island Energy Center ? The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has authorized a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Caithness to site, construct, and operate the Caithness Long Island Energy Center on 96 acres of Pine Barrens property in the Town of Brookhaven 's Empire Zone. A dual-fired, combined-cycle combustion turbine generator with an output of 350 megawatts of electricity, a 170-foot-high exhaust stack, a 750,000-gallon oil storage tank, an air-cooled condenser, and housing for the turbine generators will be among the structures at the Caithness Long Island Energy Center . Where will LIPA's proposed Power Plant be located? LIPA's proposed Caithness Power Plant will be located south of the Sills Road interchange (Exit 66) of the Long Island Expressway, east of Old Dock Road, north of Horseblock Road, and bounded on the north by the LIRR. How will the Caithness Power Plant be fueled? The Caithness Energy Center is proposed to be fuels by natural gas, which LIPA has proposed supplying through a new 21.6-mile extension of the Iroquois pipeline that will be built through Suffolk County between Commack and the Caithness site in South Yaphank . A 750,000-gallon oil storage tank – to supply oil as a back-up fuel – also will be built on the site, which will need to be filled and refilled by a tractor-trailer tank trucks. Will it actually "clean the air"? No. No fossil fuel burning power plant can actually clean the air. Although Caithness is a newer plant, it still emmits plenty of pollution. According to the company's environmental study Caithness will emmit: 270 tons / Carbon Monoxide 42.1 tons / Sulfur Dioxide 95 tons / TSP 95 tons / PM-10 90.2 tons / Nitrogen Oxides 63 tons / VOC 15.1 tons / Sulfuric Acid Mist 0.01 tons / Lead This is why the Long Island Progressive Coalition wants to see a moritorium on the future building of power plants on Long Island. Instead, we should make the older plants more efficient. That would significantly reduce the amount of pollution in the air each year. When will construction of the proposed Power Plant begin? LIPA expects to begin construction of Caithness in Fall 2006. The Power Plant is expected to commence operations in Fall 2008. LIPA has authorized Chairman Richard Kessel to purchase the power plant from the Caithness Plant at an as yet unknown cost. LIPA has refused to make the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) available to the public. What approvals are required before LIPA can begin construction of the proposed Caithness Energy Center ? In addition to the PPA agreement approved by LIPA, the Project requires approvals from the Town of Brookhaven , Suffolk County , and New York State . What are some of the harmful environmental impacts of LIPA's proposed Caithness Power Plant? The Caithness Energy Center poses numerous and significant harmful environmental impacts. Chief among these are the adverse affects to: air quality, water quality and quantity, human health, terrestrial ecology, noise, aesthetics, visual resources, traffic, land use, use of fossil fuels, neighborhood and community character, property values, and the cumulative impacts of the Power Plant on existing and approved future development. Did LIPA perform an adequate environmental impact review of its proposed Power Plant with Caithness ? LIPA's Environmental Impact Statement for Caithness contains several fatal flaws. One of the major flaws is the lack of consideration of Atlantic Point – a 795-unit rental housing development that is home to more than 2,000 residents and is located only ½ to ¾ of a mile from the Caithness site. LIPA's environmental review process failed to fulfill the fundamental requirements of New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), which are to give “a concise description of the environmental setting of the areas to be affected” (SEQRA regulations). How LIPA could not have looked down the road and seen one of Long Island 's largest rental apartment and town home developments remains a mystery. Another fatal flaw is the segmentation of the Iroquois Pipeline Extension from LIPA's environmental review. LIPA made an agreement with Iroquois to build a 21.6-mile extension of its gas pipeline through Suffolk County from Commack to South Yaphank to fuel the Caithness plant. Without this new pipeline – which has not even been permitted, nor has its cost been included in the total project cost – Caithness will have to rely on oil to fuel the plant. In fact, Caithness is requesting a permit from Suffolk County for a 750,000-gallon oil storage tank to be located on the site. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) fails to even consider what would happen if the natural gas cannot be transported through the 21.6-mile Iroquois Pipeline to the Caithness Plant. Should this happen, Caithness would only be able to operate on oil, which was not analyzed in the FEIS and raises significant concerns for air-quality impacts. After reviewing all of the documents and testimony regarding the Caithness Long Island Energy Center , the only reasoned conclusion to be drawn is that LIPA's environmental review process was nothing more than an after-the-fact effort to justify a decision that LIPA has already made entirely without the benefit of a comprehensive environmental quality review process. Are there any socioeconomic or environmental justice issues associated with the location of LIPA's Caithness Energy Center ? LIPA has claimed that there is no basis for the community to raise socioeconomic and environmental justice issues with the Caithness Plant's location. While at the same time, LIPA is boastful about the advantages of locating Caithness within the Brookhaven Empire Zone – which, by definition, is a disadvantaged community in need of economic development. In LIPA's benefit package to the community, they stated: “…make a good faith effort at the initial facility staffing to hire at least two qualified people from the local community” (Host Community Benefits for the Caithness Long Island Energy Center , January 20, 2006). LIPA also has stated that ratepayers will benefit from the project's location in the Brookhaven Empire Zone, but LIPA has not reported what, if any, Empire Zone benefits the project would accrue. What are the economic costs of LIPA's proposed Caithness Plant? LIPA has been touting the favorable economics of the Caithness Energy Center . However, to date, LIPA has refused to disclose the actual cost it will pay to purchase the power from Caithness . LIPA's economic analysis of Caithness also has failed to include the approximate $65 million cost for the new 21.6-mile pipeline through Suffolk County and more than $150 million proposed for the community benefit package. Did LIPA adequately assess alternative to the Caithness Energy Plant's location? In May 2003 LIPA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking proposals for additional sources of power supply. This RFP was issued despite the fact that two power plants proposed by a Key Span/ANP Joint Venture had received virtually all required permits and approvals and were found to have no significant adverse environmental impacts. All that was lacking was a Purchase Power Agreement (PPA) from LIPA. LIPA did not choose the KeySpan Plant because they said it was too expensive. In June 2004 LIPA approved its Final Energy Plan identifying Caithness as one of the projects to meet Long Island 's energy needs. LIPA selected the Caithness Plant before any SEQRA review of the project. LIPA has not disclosed the total cost of the Caithness Plant. To date, only two costs are currently known -- $65 million for the pipeline and $150 million for the community benefit package.
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