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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Group opposes Danskammer project
By LAUREN BERG
As progress on the Pilgrim Pipeline has stalled,
grassroots organization Orange Residents Against
Pilgrim Pipeline (RAPP) has turned its attention to
the proposed upgrade of the Danskammer Plant in
Newburgh.
Controversy has surrounded the Danskammer Plant
for some time. The plant, which is located on the Hudson
River, ranked as one of the top ten state air polluters in
2000, had a lawsuit filed against it by an environmental
non-profit seeking a comprehensive environmental
review, and itself filed a lawsuit claiming its property
evaluation was too high, asking for a reduction in taxes.
The multi-million dollar settlement of Danskammer’s
2014 tax lawsuit resulted in raised property and school
taxes of nearby residents.
The plant ceased operating full time in 2012 when
it was flooded by Hurricane Sandy, and currently only
functions as a peak-use plant. Now, owners are seeking
to upgrade the plant to be able to convert natural gas into
electricity, and become fully operational again.
Orange RAPP hosted an informational meeting at the
Newburgh Town Hall on October 3, headed up by town
resident and Orange RAPP member Sandra Kissam,
to discuss the details of the Article Ten process. She
expressed the group’s concerns with the Danskammer
project— namely, that the plant is located in a flood
plain, would discharge pollutants full time, would burn
fracked gas requiring pipelines, and that electric rates
may actually increase as a result in order to guarantee
company profits.
“We need to be educated before the process gets
ahead of us and it’s too late to do anything about it,” said
Kissam.
The meeting featured civil rights attorney Michael
Sussman, who is currently running for NYS attorney
general in the Green Party line. He explained that the
Article Ten law “is a comprehensive pre-review process
for power plant construction and modification in New
York State,” which would create a sitting board that
would include at least two town residents. But Sussman
warned that the Article 10 has a loophole.
“Even if the board finds the facility will result or
contribute to a significant and adverse disproportionate
environmental impact on the local community, it can
permit the facility so long as the applicant shows that
it intends to avoid, upset or minimize the impacts to the
maximum extent practical using verifiable measures,”
explained Sussman.
The group’s concerns are particularly timely, as
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
recently released a report stating that at the current rate
of greenhouse emissions, the increased atmospheric
temperature will result in inundated coastlines,
worsening wildfires, and intensifying droughts and
poverty as soon as 2040. To prevent that future, the
IPCC report recommends increasing renewable energy
sources from 20% to as much as 67%. Orange RAPP
p