Riverkeeper attorney Richard Webster, explains the group’s request
to the state while
Orange County Executivef Steven Neuhaus listens
GOSHEN – The Riverkeeper environmental group has formally requested
of the state Department of Environmental Conservation to suspend or revoke
the air permit for the CPV power plant in the Town of Wawayanda. (Read
the formal document.)
Joining in the call on Monday were Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus,
State Assembly Members Aileen Gunther and James Skoufis as well as the
county legislature, represented at a news conference by Legislator James
O’Donnell.
The formal request from Riverkeeper notes the DEC has “broad authority
to revoke, suspend or modify permits.”
Neuhaus said when the facility was first proposed the county legislature
and he supported it, but in light of the conviction of one-time Cuomo
aide Joseph Percoco on bribery charges related to the plant and the health
and safety issues raised, they are all calling for the permits to be pulled.
Gunther and Skoufis said they are in the process of drafting legislation
that would revoke state permits for facilities like CPV when criminal
activity is involved.
O’Donnell, meanwhile, said public officials should also keep an
eye on the Cricket Valley electric generating plant being built in Dover
to ascertain if there are any similar issues there.
Pramilla Malik, president of Protect Orange County, the citizens’
group that has been pushing for the CPV plant’s closure, said the
formal request by Riverkeeper is a good first step, but she felt the officials
on Monday “equivocated” on the issue. The maintained the plant
should never have been built and since it has, it should be shut down
immediately. And she said if the state will not do it, Orange County’s
Health Department has the policing powers to pull the plug on in.
