| Dear Friends of Seneca Lake, The letter below was sent to the Town of Torrey Board and Planning Board by the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter and Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes. We had asked to be on the agenda in a letter to the Town Board in February, but we were not included in the March 9 meeting agenda. We submitted a letter detailing our reasons for a moratorium which was listed under correspondence, so it has been received by the Town Board. Because this meeting was in the basement of the Dresden Methodist Church, and the board refused our request to have the meeting through zoom, many of our leaders chose not to attend. But our supporters who did reported that Greenidge WAS discussed. There were roughly 45 people, including board members and staff, at the meeting. There were about a dozen supporters and employees of Greenidge present. The meeting was allowed to deteriorate to the point where supporters of Greenidge verbally challenged supporters of a moratorium using confrontational tones, while the supporters maintained their composure and continued to share their concerns. ACTIONS to TAKE (if you haven’t already): Please email The Town of Torrey Planning Board BEFORE their 3/15/21 meeting at: townclerk@townoftorrey.com and cc: preservethefingerlakes@gmail.com. Request that the Town Planning Board take a “hard look” at possible adverse impacts to our community, Seneca Lake and the Keuka Outlet before making any decisions on the Greenidge Bitcoin expansion. Ask that your emails be shared with everyone on both boards, and entered into the meeting minutes. |
March 9, 2021
Request for a moratorium on energy development and bitcoin mining To the Town of Torrey Board,
The Sierra Club, Seneca Lake Guardian and the Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes, with members and supporters in the Town of Torrey, Yates County and the Finger Lakes Region, request the Town Board to adopt a temporary (3-6 month) moratorium on the siting of additional electrical generation, battery storage systems and the expansion of data centers, AKA bitcoin, in the Town of Torrey:
While our focus has been on a moratorium to address expansion of bitcoin mining, recent developments indicate that Greenidge has more development plans and the Town of Torrey Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Law do not adequately address any of them.
Battery Storage
According to an article in the Albany Times Union recently, the head of the Independent Power Producers of NY was talking about Greenidge Generation (Attached). In that article the following statement was made:
“This facility is adding great, high-tech jobs in a cutting-edge field. It is even exploring options like battery storage that can help the plant continue growing and bring the state closer to its renewable energy goals.”
New York State Energy Research and Development issued guidance in December 2020 on planning for energy storage projects: https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/Clean-Energy-Siting/Battery-Energy-Storage-Guidebook
“As an important first step in protecting public and firefighter safety while promoting safe energy storage, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) developed the first comprehensive set of guidelines for reviewing and evaluating battery energy storage systems. The Battery Energy Storage System Guidebook (Guidebook) helps local government officials, and Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), understand and develop a battery energy storage system permitting and inspection processes to ensure efficiency, transparency, and safety in their local communities.”
It seems that the primary hazards of energy storage systems are fire, explosions and release of toxic gases. (https://www.fema.gov/case-study/emerging-hazards-battery-energy-storage-system-fires):
“Unfortunately, these lithium cells can experience thermal runaway which causes them to release very hot flammable, toxic gases. In large storage systems, failure of one lithium cell can cascade to include hundreds of individual cells. The hot flammable gases can result in an explosion, or a very difficult to extinguish fire.”
Since there is a clear indication from Greenidge that it is considering battery storage and batteries could be used at other solar projects currently being developed, the Town should declare a moratorium to develop safety and siting standards as recommended by the State of New York.
Additional Electrical Generation at Greenidge
The Greenidge PILOT agreement with the FLEDC provides for “additional PILOT payments for additional electricity “produced by any additional electric generating units and associated equipment and infrastructure necessary for the operation and sale of electricity from such additional units constructed at the Project Facility to increase the electric generating capacity of the Project Facility to an amount in excess of One Hundred Six and 3/10 Megawatts (106.3 MW) after the effective date” of the 2016 PILOT.
The Town does not address increased electric generation in its comprehensive plan or zoning law.
Other needed steps.
Revise the Comprehensive Plan and Town Zoning Law to clarify their intent on noise, impacts of development on Seneca Lake and the Keuka Outlet, including the generation of an additional electricity:
· To allow time to complete the sound tests, time to review the Zoning Law to clarify the role the protection of Seneca Lake and the Keuka Outlet should play in planning board decisions;
· To consider hiring a separate acoustic consultant, at the expense of Greenidge, as allowed in the Zoning Law to determine the impact of 24/7 noise on community character;
· To evaluate how the potential impacts that 300,000 MWH/year of energy (the amount of electricity needed to power 30,000 homes for a year) should be evaluated whether or not they are “before the grid.”
The Planning Board did not conduct the review consistent with the Town Zoning Law or the State Environmental Quality Review Law (SEQR) or take the required “hard look” at the environmental impacts.
The Torrey Zoning Law. https://www.townoftorrey.org/laws/pdf_45.pdf, § 98.105 Review Criteria requires that:
· “The proposed use will not adversely impact adjacent properties, existing infrastructure or environmentally sensitive features on or near the site such as steep slopes, Seneca Lake or other bodies of water, water courses, the Outlet Trail, mature woodlands, or wetlands;”
· The proposed use will not adversely impact adjacent properties with regard to excessive or unreasonable disturbance such as noise, light, glare, vibration, shadow, vapors, smoke, fumes, dust, particulate emissions or odors.
The Planning Board never asked or answered either of these questions in its review of the project. The EAF Part 1, submitted by the Greenidge Generation, LLC, described:
· the project site as the whole Greenidge Generating facility, approximately 139 acres;
· the total acreage to be “physically disturbed” as 1.3 acres;
· the demand for energy will increase by “300,000 Megawatt hours a year;” and
· the construction and operation of the project will create noise.
In conducting its review and the completion of EAF Part 2, the PB segmented this project, and only considered the 1.3 acres, without considering the obvious environmental impacts of producing an additional 300,000 Megawatt hours a year, enough to power 30,000 homes. This project may have no impact on the grid, but it certainly impacts the environment.
An indication that the Plan and Law need revision are the Planning Board’s actions. As an example, the Planning Board decided there were significant adverse impacts, but that was DEC’s job to mitigate and not the PB responsibility, as stated in the Zoning Law.
At the September 21 meeting, the PB was presented with evidence that:
· the thermal discharge for the CURRENT operation exceeded the legal limits for discharge to a trout stream and that the thermal study would not be completed until at least 2023;
· the required screens on the intakes from Seneca Lake to protect the fish are not installed, nor will they be until October 2022, and
· that the project will require a significant amount of additional electricity which will significantly increase the use of natural gas, air emissions, water withdrawal, and discharge of heated water into the Keuka Outlet.
The fact that the DEC is allowing extensive time for correction of these impacts, should not make these impacts acceptable to the Town of Torrey.
The Zoning Law was clearly enacted to protect adjacent properties from excessive or continuous noise. The impact should be assessed on residences, not at Greenidge’s fence. And the presence of the lake as the East boundary, requires an analysis of noise over water. This decision proves that the current Zoning Law is unclear and the intent needs to be clarified by the Town Board. The Town should conduct its own noise study.
In 2019, before the data center started operations, Greenidge used about 6% of its electrical generating capacity and 24 million gallons/day of its 139 million gallon/day allocation. In 2020, with the opening of the bitcoin mine/data center, that jumped to 68 million GPD.
According to an interview recently in Forbes: “Greenidge wants to increase its energy consumption. The company has plans to use the plant’s total capacity of 104MW next year.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertanzalone/2020/08/13/bitcoin-mining-can-be-profitable-if-you-generate-the-power/?sh=26f5d9605702
That is enough to power 100,000 homes for a year. The Town needs to implement a moratorium to assess the impacts of the bitcoin project as well as other planned development on the environment, Seneca Lake and the Keuka Outlet, and the community.
Finally, the Town should consider the County Planning Board’s recommendation to disapprove the site plan application because of concerns about impacts on the county and region.
Very truly yours,
Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes
Seneca Lake Guardian, A Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliate
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Copies of the Critical Documents on the CTPFL webpage at https://preservethefingerlakes.org/.
3/2/2021 There’s a role for natural gas in the renewable-energy future – Albany Times Union,
COMMENTARY
There’s a role for natural gas in the renewable-energy future
By Gavin Donohue
New York is in the middle of an energy revolution. As we look to build back better in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the energy industry is poised to serve as an economic engine to lead us on the road to recovery and build the green economy.
And as we move down that path, power producers that have energized our state, employed our neighbors and provided tax revenue to our communities are carving out their place. Highly efficient natural gas facilities are instrumental in propelling us to the renewable-energy future we all want, and they play acritical role in their communities, providing essential jobs and tax revenues — especially important as we grapple with the economic impacts of COVID-19.
The past year has emphasized the need for a reliable electric system, and reliability has never been in question during this pandemic. That’s a credit to our system that has natural gas as a backbone. Hospitals, grocery stores, virtual classrooms —even just binge-watching Netflix — all depend on reliable electricity. This is not a question of renewables vs. natural gas; guaranteeing reliability means ensuring resources are available when needed to meet demand.
Building the electric grid of the future is a process, and it’s happening around the state. In the Hudson Valley, natural gas facilities like the CPV Valley Energy Center and Cricket Valley Energy Center, along with the proposed upgrades to the Danskammer Energy Center, are smart investments that replace higher-emitting generation while providing a necessary backup to the grid.
Looking upstate, Greenidge Generation is a model for innovation. In 2017, it converted from coal to natural gas — a much cleaner, considerably more efficient fuel that complements renewable energy when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. Three years later, Greenidge launched a data mining operation that includes cryptocurrency to support its operation and its community while continuing to provide power to the grid. The new data center has demonstrated to other generators the possibilities that exist for them in the 21st-century economy.
Around the state, we know all too well that for families and communities, the economic ramifications of the pandemic are wide-ranging, and it will take time to recover. In just one year, Greenidge’s mining operation produced an additional $300,000 in local tax revenue — a desperately needed boost for a local government budget devastated by COVID-19. As a result, Yates County was the only county among its neighbors to see sales tax growth in 2020. This facility is adding great, high-tech jobs in a cutting-edge field. It is even exploring options like battery storage that can help the plant continue growing and bring the state closer to its renewable energy goals.
Renewable projects are important, but they are intermittent by nature. If the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing, natural gas generators can turn on and off quickly to back up the system. And those same generators, with future retrofits, may be able to run on clean fuels like hydrogen or renewable natural gas, building on the power sector’s proven track record of emissions reductions. In the last 20 years, the power sector has seen a 56 per cent decrease in carbon dioxide emissions, along with reductions of 99 percent and92 percent in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, respectively.
Guaranteed efficiency, reliable service, and jobs and taxes for communities are all things we should not take for granted. As we progress to a renewable future, the smart innovations of natural gas facilities around our state are indispensable in helping us get there.
Gavin Donohue is the president and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York, an Albany-based trade association. He is also a member of the New York State Climate Action Council.