Feds cite issues on power plant plan

OGDENSBURG — The U.S. Department of the Interior has raised several concerns about the proposed underground power plant, including availability of water at the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project downstream in Massena.

Riverbank Power of Toronto proposed building a $2 billion underground power plant capable of generating up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity near the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge. The plant, named Aquabank, would generate power during the day using water from the St. Lawrence River when electricity demand is highest, then pump the water back into the river at night when power demand is low. The underground reservoirs could hold about 1.23 billion gallons of water.

Riverbank submitted requests in September to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit. The permit gives the company three years to study the project, and gave interested parties until Friday to seek "intervenor" status, making them a formal part of the process.

According to the Interior Department, which filed to be an intervenor, the water diversion could have an impact on the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project owned jointly by the New York Power Authority and Ontario Power Generation. NYPA officials have said the diversion could affect one turbine.

"If the water is unavailable to NYPA/OPG during peak generating periods, the proposed project would essentially substitute peak generation at the pumped storage project for the existing hydroelectric generation at Moses-Sanders," wrote Andrew L. Raddant, an Interior Department regional environmental officer, in a Feb. 3 letter. "During non-peak hours, the water would be pumped back to the river, where NYPA and OPG could produce non-peak power, most/all of which would be used by the proposed project to pump the water back to the river."

Riverbank officials said they don't believe the project would affect the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project.

"This is the very reason why the environmental, technical and water use impacts of a project are exhaustively studied during the FERC review process," Riverbank spokesman John Lacey said in an e-mail Friday. "If this issue does present itself during the FERC review, we would work to resolve the matter. If after exhaustive review a resolution could not be found, we would look at all options including developing an alternative site in our portfolio."

The Interior Department also raised concerns about fish and wildlife of the river, water rights and timetable for the project.

Numerous environmental and power transmission studies will be needed to determine whether the project is viable here, according to FERC documents. Those studies, expected to cost up to $2 million, include geologic, ecological, engineering, power transmission, environmental and economic.

The Interior Department believes those studies could be done by 2014, not the June 2011 timetable outlined by Riverbank. They also would like a study done on the project's impact to several fish species, including the lake sturgeon, American eel, walleye, smallmouth bass and muskellunge.

No timetable was available for when FERC could respond to the Interior Department's comments.

In addition to the Interior Department, nine other parties filed for intervenor status. They are the city of Ogdensburg, the International Water Levels Coalition, the New York Power Authority, the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, Alcoa, the Massena Electric Department, Ontario Power Generation Inc., the province of Ontario and Robert G. Flavin, a concerned Ogdensburg resident.

If granted, the status will be effective during the permitting of the proposed Aquabank power plant and gives the parties the ability to appeal FERC decisions before the commission or in court. All intervenor requests are granted as long as they are on time and there is no counter petition from the public, FERC officials said. The formal requests need to show that no other group will be able to represent the petitioning party's interests. At least one other organization echoed the concerns about the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project and cited the possible effect on the local economy.

"Alcoa's aluminum manufacturing business depends on a reliable and affordable electric power supply. In the case of its operations at Massena, the St. Lawrence Project generates much of this power supply," Alcoa said in its request. "Thus, any adverse impact on the St. Lawrence Project's generation capability caused by the Riverbank Project could also result in adverse effects on the economics of Alcoa's aluminum manufacturing operations at Massena."

Time staff writer Max R. Mitchell contributed to this report.