NISA Generating Barge Update

by Deborah Masters

We've had some bad news today. The Judge dismissed our Summary Judgment - when we filed our lawsuit against DEC and the NISA Electric Barge, their lawyers filed a Summary Judgment against us- based on the idea that we had missed all the statutory deadlines and therefore had no basis for bringing our lawsuit – the Judge agreed with them and never even considered the merits of our case.

We are now in an ambiguous situation. We will file an appeal even though we probably cannot afford to carry out the lawsuit. We had a great response to the Acid Rain permit (which has not yet been given), and will most certainly be granted a hearing based on our response. That could restart the whole legal process and give us something new to sue on. Unfortunately, or maybe luckily, NYC Energy LLC is apparently in a bad situation financially and is considering substituting the turbine with another model that is cheaper. If that happens, they will probably have to redo the environmental assessment forms. That would award us an entirely new Hearing, like the one we had December 12, 2000. DEC is not willing to pursue the Acid Rain Hearing until they know about the new turbine, because they can't afford to sponsor bogus hearings.

Another complication is that New York City had a brief, but very hot, hot spell. We did not suffer a lack of megawatts. In addition to this is the large number of applications to the Public Service Commission for larger plants. DEC would obviously rather process fewer and larger applications, which makes the NISA Electric Barge more of a fluff application, which in this power plant mad climate, is less and less likely to receive DEC's support. If we actually have enough time to organize a good hearing turnout, we can still beat this, so stay tuned. Bring friends to the Hearing when it is announced – we will need bodies!

Doug Ward, our lawyer, is conferring with Gail Suchman of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (who won the NYPA law suit) to create a strategy, probably around the PM 2.5 issue (fine particulate matter). We will let you know as soon as any thoughts are developed about a strategy.

Sorry about the bad news. This could still go our way. (Praying might be in order.)

Yours,
Deborah Masters