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Renovation for Tanner Park underway; Town promotes Repower LI discussion
"This is going to be another beautiful addition to our facilities," said Supervisor Steve Bellone in announcing the work last week. "We are all very excited about it and look forward to working with the architect and designers to come up with something really nice." Initial plans call for a Cape Cod design for the pavilion and a themed water park for the kiddies. The town is also seeking proposals from restaurants and caterers for light food services there. TOWN SEEKS TO ENERGIZE LIPOWER DEBATE In other business, the Town is unveiling a major promotion for the retooling of the Island's power plants, called Repower LI. Working with environmental groups, Supervisor Bellone said he believes it is important for Long Island to put a comprehensive plan at the top of Long Island's energy agenda. He held a press conference last week to kick off the effort. "We are at a unique crossroads right now with the Neptune Power cable coming on line and the National Grid merger giving us more capacity and more growth then we have had in years," said Bellone. "With that comes the opportunity we never had before to shut down a plant and retool it." Bellone added that a new Governor and new chairman for LIPA, Kevin Law, makes this the perfect time to begin discussions on the topic anew. "It is just a matter of giving it serious consideration," he said. To help do that, the Town is printing bumper stickers announcing the initiative and plans to work to promote public discussion and debate on the issue, which will include information on repowering versus LIPA's current plans for a wind park off of Jones Beach, a plan Town officials oppose. LIPA's wind farm project calls for putting up 40 windmills to generate 149 additional megawatts of energy. The town points out that at least one study on repowering KeySpan's plants by the Center for Management Analysis at Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus, shows that this option could generate 4,200 megawatts, considerably more energy while at the same time improving air quality by reducing the emissions from the older and inefficient plants. "We need to clean up existing plants; need to extend their life and we need to reduce the amount of pollutants emitted at the existing facilities," Cordaro told the Town Board late last year. The problem is, said Cordaro, that LIPA ratepayers cannot afford to both build the windfarm and retool Keyspan's power plants. "We know with certainty that the fine grit from polluted air contributes to heart disease," said a spokesman for the Long Island Sierra Club. ""We also know that air quality is contributing to poor health on Long Island and as we face our future energy demands, we can reduce our carbon footprint and improve the health of our citizens through repowering Long Island's aging plants." "Repowering is a long-term solution to have a sustainable energy system," said Lisa Tyson, director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition, one of several organizations joining the Town in its efforts.
"Retooling will do more to increase our energy sources, protect our health, and reduce our use of fossil fuels than any alternate proposal, and we can do it without having to build a single new power plant," concluded Bellone. "That is why everyone is for repowering. The question is whether it is top priority. We plan to make it so."
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