Rendering of NRG’s Astoria Replacement Project. (Photo credit: NRG)
By Angélica Acevedo QNS
Community members will get a chance to comment virtually on the controversial proposed upgrade to the NRG power plant in Astoria on Tuesday, Aug. 24.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will hold the first public hearing on the proposal at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. The second hearing will be held on Thursday, Aug. 26, at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The proposal has garnered staunch disapproval from dozens of local elected officials, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and community climate advocates as well as support from local business advocates and union reps.
NRG, a large Houston-based energy, and fossil fuel company, is seeking the state’s approval for their Astoria Replacement Project, a plan they say will replace and upgrade existing generators at their Astoria peaker plant — located in the Con Edison-owned station at 31-01 20th Ave. — with natural gas-fired power. Peaker plants operate when there’s a high demand in electricity by burning fossil fuels that emit harmful air pollutants into the air.
NRG wants the plant to remain a peaking facility, but says they’ll add new technology to provide “immediate clean air benefits.”
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