“We just hope there are fish left in Seneca Lake by the time the DEC studies of Greenidge Generation LLC, including cooling water intakes, thermal study, dilution study, are completed and corrective action implemented.”
Mary Anne Kowalski, President

Suggestions for Comments

The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes offers the following suggestions to help concerned citizens to comment on the Conditioned Negative Declaration adopted by the Town of Torrey Planning Board and published in the DEC Environmental Notice Bulletin on October 7, 2020.

Comments are required by November 7, 2020 and should be submitted to:

Town of Torrey Planning Board
C/o Betty Daggett
Town of Torrey Town Clerk
56 Geneva St.
Dresden, NY 14441
Email: townclerk@townoftorrey.com

Please send a copy of your comment to preservethefingerlakes@gmail.com

About the Project:

Greenidge ceased operations in 2011, was put into bankruptcy and was sold for “scrap.”  The current owner purchased the plant and announced its intent to restart the plant, first using coal, and then switching to natural gas.  Greenidge applied for a permit saying that the “Plant resuming operation requiring resumption of cooling water withdrawals and installation of intake structure screens to reduce fish mortality.”

With little or no scrutiny, DEC simply grandfathered the old discharge permit limits, giving extensive time for studies to design and implement the necessary actions to reduce fish kills.  DEC issued a water withdrawal permit for the plant’s maximum withdrawal capacity. The DEC permits allow the plant to:

• withdraw 139 million gallons per day from Seneca Lake to cool the gas-fired turbine with once-through cooling technology,
• operate without any screens or other protective measures to prevent fish, eggs and larvae from being vacuumed from the lake and cooked while cooling the turbine; and
• discharge hot water at up to 108 degrees F. into the Keuka Outlet, a trout stream, even though current regulations limit such discharges to 70 degrees F.

In 2019, Greenidge applied to the Town Planning Board to create a “data center.”  The new energy demand would be 677,000 MWH of electricity or enough to power 63,000 homes for a year.  The environmental impacts included additional air emissions from the natural gas, water withdrawal, discharge of pollutants and thermal discharge into the Keuka Outlet, above the amounts estimated for power plant operation.  Apparently without consulting DEC or conducting any review of the impacts, the Planning Board issued a “negative declaration” and bitcoin mining was announced in March 2020.  The project also got sales tax exemptions from the Yates County IDA.

In June 2020, Greenidge applied to the Planning Board for an “Onsite Data Center,” really an expansion of the 2019 bitcoin/data center, that would use the entire capacity of the power plant, except when needed by the grid. 

The expansion proposal includes the addition of 4 buildings, each 42 x 120 feet, to house computer servers and cooling fans, on 1.3 acres of the total 139 acres of the power plant property.  The energy demand noted on the application for the expansion is 300,000 Megawatt hours a year, the equivalent electricity used by 30,000 homes.

Suggestions for your comment (Thanks to Seneca Lake Guardian):

Personalized comment letters (emails or handwritten) are best, even if they are short. If they are handwritten, they can be scanned and emailed.  Sending more than one comment to make different points is fine. 

The subject line should note the project – “Greenidge Onsite Data Center” Conditioned Negative Declaration.

Potential comment outline:

Introduction – indicate the purpose of your correspondence. Example:

I am writing to request that the Planning Board, as required in the SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) , properly classify the action as “Type 1,” rescind the “conditioned negative declaration,” issue a positive declaration, require an environmental impact statement and conduct a coordinated review with the DEC.

To better protect Seneca Lake and the Keuka Outlet, further expansion of generation activities at Greenidge should not be authorized by the Planning Board until the thermal and dilution studies are COMPLETE and new thermal limits are set and the feasibility of the wedgewire screens can be assessed and implemented.

To better protect against noise impacts, the Planning Board should require an adequate noise impact study before approving the project.

I am writing to provide comments on the site plan application and “conditioned negative declaration” issued by the Planning Board for the Onsite Data Center expansion at Greenidge Generation LLC.

Describe your personal interest in the proposed project.

Examples:

I [live near the facility, live/own a business/ in the Town of Torrey, Village of Dresden, etc.  that relies on Seneca Lake or the Keuka Outlet].

I have [lived nearby/owned a business there] for years with my [spouse/partner/ children/elderly parents].

I [ My family and I] enjoy Seneca Lake and the Keuka Outlet for [boating/ recreation/fishing].

I live in the Finger Lakes region and am concerned that the plant will have a negative impact on our regional economy.

I live in New York State and am concerned that climate change impacts were not evaluated by the Planning Board and that [specific name/other old power plants] will try to do this too.

Describe your particular concern(s) about the proposed project.

I am opposed to the project because… or I am concerned that

Examples:

This project has significantly changed since it was first approved and DEC has not had an opportunity to evaluate the environmental impacts of expanded energy use for the data center project.

There may be noise emitted by the facility that will interfere with _______.

The Planning Board (PB) did not conduct its review consistent with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) or follow the Town of Torrey Zoning Law, assuring preservation of Community Character.

Every summer I worry about HABS because of the increased temperature in the Keuka Outlet.  I have [dogs/children] and am afraid to let them in the water.  We were fortunate in 2020, but why take the risk.

Greenidge, now that it is basically creating money with their bitcoin/data farm, should be required to install a closed cycle cooling system to protect the fish and the water quality.

The community is not getting sufficient tax income for the risks it is being required to take.

Restate the corrective action you requested and thank the Town Clerk and the Planning Board for their efforts.