ENB Region 2 Completed Applications 03/12/2003

As part of ongoing improvements at the 26th Ward Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP), the applicant proposes to replace approximately 1900 feet of existing steel sheet pile bulkhead along the west side of Hendrix Creek with a new steel sheet pile bulkhead to be installed 18 inches in front of the existing bulkhead. A 20 foot by 40 foot temporary steel sheet piling cofferdam will be constructed in front of the existing plant outfall to facilitate bulkhead reconstruction at the outfall opening. The cofferdam will be de-watered to allow work to be performed in the dry. Approximately 3 million gallons per day of de-watering discharge will be discharged to Hendrix Creek for 60 days. Within the cofferdam approximately 90 cubic yards of sediment will be excavated to allow work to be performed at the outfall opening. Temporary diversion pumping of the treated plant effluent will be discharged through eight 24 inch temporary diversion discharge pipes which will be installed through the wetlands area south of the end of the existing bulkhead. Upon completion of the new bulkhead and removal of the cofferdam, the plant outfall will resume discharge operations and the temporary piping will be removed. Any disturbed wetland will be restored. An existing floatables containment and off-loading facility within Hendrix Creek will also be replaced. The WPCP is located at Flatlands and Van Siclen Avenues, Brooklyn.

    The Department has received a request to approve two modifications to the applicants existing SPDES permit.  The first modification would raise the current Intake-Discharge Temperature Difference (delta T) at Outfall 001, from 17.5 deg F to 23 deg F.  The second would raise the allowable Maximum Discharge Temperature from 97.5 deg F to 104.2 deg F.  The modifications are being requested to provide the Ravenswood Station an adequate operating margin under high electrical demand conditions during seasonally high summer temperatures. The Department has made a tentative determination to approve the two modifications, provided that the SPDES permit also be modified to install a dedicated return pipe to transport impinged fish directly to the East River without traveling through the station’s thermal discharge.  This Department Initiated Modification is prompted by a 1999 study which indicates that several species of impinged fish, including winter flounder, bay anchovy and Atlantic tomcod, experience thermal shock and increased levels of mortality upon exposure to the high discharge temperatures.  Since the permittee’s modification request shows that discharge temperatures may be higher than those reported in the 1999 study, the Department considers it necessary to seek mitigation at this time.  With this mitigating condition, the Department has determined that the regulated discharge satisfies regulatory standards for permit issuance, based on information available to the Department at this time.  A draft permit, with the modified conditions on pgs. 1, 2 and 12 has been prepared and is available for review in the DEC Region 2 office at 47-40 21^st Street, Long Island City, NY 11101.  The facility is the KeySpan/Ravenswood Power Station in Long Island City at 38-54 Vernon Boulevard, Queens, NY.

    

The applicant proposes to enlarge an existing parking lot, repair and re-stripe portions of an existing paved area, install concrete a curb around a portion of the proposed parking area and install new drains and drywells. Portions of the project site are located within the adjacent area of NYSDEC regulated Class II Freshwater Wetland E-2 (Goethals Bridge Pond). The project site is located at 100 Cable Way, Staten Island, Block 1268 - Lot 278.

The Department has made a tentative determination to approve this application for a renewal and modification of a permit for an existing discharge of a maximum of 3500 gallons per day of treated sanitary wastewater into a stream tributary to a tidal wetland located in Goethal’s Pond Park which leads to Bridge Creek (Class SD) from a treatment plant at the applicant’s facility located at 2501 Forest Avenue, Staten Island NY 10314 where the applicant operates a retail store.  A draft permit is available for inspection and comment at the regional office.

The applicant proposes to construct two attached one family houses and two semi-detached one family house within the adjacent area of NYSDEC regulated Class I Freshwater Wetland NA-9 (Dongan Hills). The wetland is located on the opposite side of an existing street (Mason Avenue) from the project site which is located at 453, 455, 457 & 459 Bedford Avenue, Staten Island Block 3728 / Lots 38 & 40.