ENB Region 2 Completed Applications 04/13/2005

The Department has made a tentative determination to approve an application for an existing facility which operates two boilers that provide heat and steam to the campus of Kingsborough Community College. The boilers are equipped with dual fuel burners capable of firing natural gas or No. 6 fuel oil. Also included are the operation of a graphic arts printing shop and a gasoline dispensing site which are subject to air permitting requirements. The applicant proposes to cap NOx emissions at 22.5 tons per year. The facility is subject to the provisions of Air State Facility specified under 6NYCRR Part 201-7.2. The application, draft permit, relevant supporting materials and regulations are available for review during normal business hours at the DEC office provided in this notice. Comments of support or objection may be made by filing a written statement by the deadline date indicated. DEC may schedule a public hearing based upon an evaluation of the nature and scope of any written objections raised. Hearing notices will contain instructions on filing for party status and submitting comments.  

The applicant proposes to install and operate a test field of six temporary underwater turbines in the East Channel of the East River next to Roosevelt Island for an eighteen month period to perform the studies necessary to evaluate the potential for further development of this technology.  This deployment will also gather baseline information for a potential Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license for a large scale underwater turbine field to deliver electricity to the grid.  Environmental and operational studies will be performed to evaluate the environmental, technical and economic feasibility of this new renewable energy source.

    The six turbines resemble underwater windmills and rotate at approximately 32 rotations per minute, depending on the flow of water. These six turbines are anticipated to generate a peak of 100-200 kilowatts of electricity from the free-flowing, kinetic energy of East River tidal flow. The horizontal axis rotor of each turbine is five-meters (16.4 feet) in diameter and the entire turbine will rotate (yaw) around a vertical axis in order to follow the reversing tidal current and generate power in both the up-river and down-river directions.  The turbines will be located in approximately 30 feet of water referenced to mean lower low water (MLLW).  There will be approximately 6 feet of water under the turbine rotor at all times and 5 feet above the turbine rotor at MLLW.

    The six turbines will be mounted on 24” diameter monopiles set in holes drilled from a barge into the bedrock.  The 24" hollow pile will be forced against the rock face to form a seal to contain the drilling operation and its products. Once the piles are in place, turbines will be brought to the site by barge and mounted by divers on the top of each of the six piles.

    Each of the underwater turbines will be connected to a land-based control room. Turbines #2-#6 will also be connected to Consolidated Edison meters for electricity delivery to local establishments.  Each turbine will have a separate cable running from the turbine to the shore.  The cables will lie on the river bottom and be held in place by concrete weights.

    The turbines and associated hydroacoustic arrays for monitoring fish and other aquatic species, will be deployed in two phases.  The first deployment will include 2 turbine units, and twelve hydroacoustic transducers focused on these two turbines and on far field fish movements upstream and downstream of the turbines.  A second deployment of the remaining four turbines, and six additional hydroacoustic transducers, will be conducted after an 8 to 12 week evaluation of the initial deployment.

    The applicant plans to conduct studies on fish movement and protection, navigation and security, recreational resources, and historical resources during this deployment. The fish movement and protection study will include the deployment of the above-mentioned eighteen hydroacoustic transducers in six locations to monitor and record fish movement and behavior within and around the turbines and the array field as a whole throughout the eighteen month study. The fixed array hydroacoustic monitoring will be supplemented with mobile hydroacoustic surveys and netting. A two-month predeployment survey of aquatic species in the project area will be conducted prior to the installation of the turbines.

    This project is located in the East Channel of the East River just north of the Roosevelt Island Bridge adjacent to Roosevelt Island.  The turbine array itself will occupy an area approximately 77 feet wide (east to west) and 217 feet long (north to south) or approximately 0.38 acres.  The turbines will be spaced approximately 40 feet apart (east to west) and deployed in three rows of two with each row 100 feet apart (north to south) in water depths of approximately 30 feet.  A protected area around the array will be established using a pair of buoys and a floating security boom installed around the field’s periphery in accordance with United States Coast Guard requirements, to warn and restrict navigation in this area.  The entire protected area will extend 165 feet into the channel from the Roosevelt Island eastern bulkhead, and enclose a total area of approximately 1.41 acres.

The Department has made a tentative determination to approve an application for an existing facility, The Jamaica WPCP which is a municipal wastewater treatment plant capable of providing treatment for 100 mgd/day of primary residential wastewater. The treatment plant has three 400 bph (13.39 MMBTU/hr Input) package boilers in the Main Building. The primary fuel is the plant's digester gas with natural gas as backup fuel.The proposal involves Jamaica WPCP Phase I and Phase II improvements. The facility is subject to 6 NYCRR Part 201-7.2, 202, 225-1.8(a) and 227-1.3(1). The facility will accept a cap of 22.5 tons per year for NOx emissions, and   will cap out of MACT requirements by limiting any annual individual HAP emission to under 10 tons per year and the annual total HAPs emission to under 22.5 tons per year. Also, two 1750 KW Caterpillar 3500 emergency generators will be used for participation in the Peak Load Management Program when needed. The application, draft permit, relevant supporting materials and regulations are available for review during normal business hours at the DEC office provided in this notice. Comments of support or objection may be made by filing a written statement by the deadline date indicated. DEC may schedule a public hearing based upon an evaluation of the nature and scope of any written objections raised. Hearing notices will contain instructions on filing for party status and submitting comments.