Statement on DEC Permit for Pouch Terminal

Contact:
Stephen Shoenholz
(914) 390-8165
shoenholz.s@nypa.gov

February 20, 2001

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is pleased by the DEC’s issuance of this permit.

The Power Authority has now received permits for all seven sites at which it will install small, clean gas-turbine generators to help stave off California-style blackouts and electricity price spikes in New York City and on Long Island this summer. NYPA is moving ahead quickly to assure that these units—11 in all—will be ready in time to meet warm-weather needs.

As at the other sites, NYPA has pledged to the DEC that it will offset any emissions—however small—from the Pouch Terminal unit through a "zero net emissions" program. As with the other units, the Power Authority will invest an additional $5 million at Pouch Terminal for the most advanced available controls for air emissions and noise.

These measures are in keeping with the Power Authority’s already ambitious programs to protect the environment in New York City and throughout the state. NYPA has invested close to $300 million in the city alone for such initiatives as its High Efficiency Lighting Program (HELP), installation of more than 100,000 super-efficient refrigerators in city-owned apartments and removal of polluting coal-burning furnaces from 78 public schools.

In Staten Island, HELP beneficiaries include such facilities as Borough Hall; Susan E. Wagner, New Dorp, Tottenville and Curtis high schools; the City University College of Staten Island; and New York City Transit’s Yukon and Castleton bus depots. Also in Staten Island, NYPA has removed coal-burning furnaces at PS 19, 39, 45 and 46 and at McKee Vocational High School.