The power plant is sandwiched between I-84 and Route 6 .
WAWAYANDA – The State Department of Environmental Conservation
has denied the renewal of the air quality permit for the Competitive Power
Ventures (CPV) fracked gas power plant in the Town of Wawayanda.
In a letter to CPV, DEC Regional Director Kelly Turturro wrote that the
company was required to submit a complete application and obtain a Clean
Air Act permit prior to operation of the facility. She wrote that CPV
has not submitted an application for a permit nor has a permit been issues
as required.
As a result, Turturro wrote that the air state facility permit renewal
application by CPV has been denied. The current permit expired on July
31. “As a result of this denial and the lack of a Title V permit,
CPV may not lawfully operate the facility,” she wrote.
In separate news releases, Riverkeeper Legal Director Richard Webster
and Catskill Mountainkeeper Ramsay Adams issued the same statement:
“I applaud Governor Cuomo and DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos for
standing up for the health of all New Yorkers, for the integrity of the
permit process, and for protecting the environment of New York State and
beyond.”
Pramilla Malick, the founder of the Protect Orange County grassroots group,
which has been in the forefront of the fight to prevent the CPV plant
from being build and going online, said the DEC’s denial of a new
air quality permit is good news, but her group will not rest until the
plan is permanently enjoined from going online and is dismantled.
“Since Joe Percoco’s indictment in 2016, I’ve called
for the power plant’s permits to be withdrawn, a call I reiterated
and amplified following this spring’s conviction,” said State
Assemblyman James Skoufis. “The project was moving forward under
an unacceptable cloud of corruption that fundamentally called CPV’s
approvals into question.”
Skoufis, who is running for the State Senate in November, said, “Justice
has, for the time being, been served to the people of Orange County. I
will be watching the DEC like a hawk as they proceed.”
Malick, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the permit denial, noting
that Governor Cuomo faces a re-election bid up against a Democratic primary
opponent in just a matter of weeks, and then the general election in November.
