DOCKET NO. 187 - An application by PDC - El Paso Milford LLC for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the proposed Milford Power Project located off of Oronoque Road in Milford, Connecticut.
Connecticut Siting Council
January 8, 1999
Decision and Order
Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) § 16-50p, the application submitted by PDC-El Paso Milford, LLC (PDC-El Paso) to construct, operate, and maintain a 544 MW natural gas-fired combined cycle facility off of Oronoque Road in Milford, Connecticut is hereby approved. A Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need (Certificate) as required by CGS 16-50k, shall be issued, subject to the following conditions and requirements.
1. Conditions
a) The facility shall be constructed and operated substantially as specified by the Certificate Holder in the application and record, except where otherwise ordered by the Council.
b) Within one year of commencement of operation, the facility shall cease use of potable water as a cooling source, or obtain advance approval from the Council for an extension of time if found necessary by the Council to avoid any unnecessary delay or curtailment of facility operations and to meet permitting requirements of other regulatory authorities.
c) The exhaust stack shall be no higher than necessary, consistent with air emission modeling conducted by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
d) Unless incompatible with provisions ordered by the DEP, selective catalytic reduction shall be used to reduce nitrogen oxide levels, an oxidation catalyst shall be used to reduce carbon monoxide, and water injection shall be used in the combustion turbines while firing on fuel oil and dry low-nitrogen oxide combustion shall be used in the combustion turbines while firing natural gas to reduce nitrogen oxide levels.
e) The project shall operate on natural gas, except during curtailment of natural gas when the project may operate on low sulfur (0.05 percent) distillate fuel oil as permitted by the DEP.
f) Submittal of a petition, amendment, or an application pursuant to CGS section 16-50g et seq., for Council approval, for modifications to existing electrical transmission structures or a transmission line interconnection route other than proposed in the record with sufficient detail to determine the jurisdiction, route, type and location of all such changes, and to confirm environmental and health effects consistent with the Council’s Electric and Magnetic Field Best Management Practices.
g) Submittal of a petition, amendment, or an application pursuant to CGS 16-50g et seq., for Council approval, for construction of any new natural gas pipeline to the facility, with sufficient detail to determine the jurisdiction, route, type, and location of all support equipment, effect on and changes necessary to existing infrastructure, health and safety effects, and possible alternative configuration and routes for the proposed new pipeline.
2. Development and Management Plan
To ensure compliance with the Council’s Decision and Order, the Certificate Holder shall not commence construction until it has secured Council approval of a Development and Management Plan (D&M Plan) with the following elements:
a) A final site plan showing all roads, structures and other improvements on the site. The final site plan shall, to the maximum extent possible, preserve the existing natural vegetation on the site, establish open space buffer areas, and shall minimize impacts on inland wetlands. No construction or improvement shall take place within 40 feet of any regulated inland wetland.
b) Detailed project schedules for all work activities with weekly work plans.
c) Provisions for adequate oil storage, unloading, and pumping facilities including tanker queuing and turn-around areas sufficient to allow for the arrival of five trucks per hour, to ensure continuous burn on oil for up to 720 hours per year during natural gas curtailment.
d) Specific locations and engineering details for water intake and discharge structures due within one year of commencement of operations.
e) Plans for landscaping, preservation of the existing natural vegetation, configuration of earthen berms, and planting of new coniferous vegetation to provide ecological habitat, visual screening, and acoustical buffers.
f) Provisions for architectural treatment of all building components, especially, but not limited to, those components, such as the exhaust stack, which can be seen from off-site locations, to minimize visual effects on scenic resources.
g) Detailed erosion and sedimentation control and stormwater management plans with provisions for inspection, enforcement, and revision.
h) A spill prevention and countermeasure plan.
i) A construction blasting plan.
j) A final site plan and engineering details for the electrical interconnection with measurements of pre- and post-construction electric and magnetic field (EMF) levels, and provisions for optimum phasing and compact spacing to maximize cancellation of EMF to the greatest extent practically possible.
3. Operations Plan
To ensure compliance with the Council’s Decision and Order, the Certificate Holder shall not commence operation of the facility until it has secured approval of an Operations Plan with components to include base line testing, performance objectives, post-construction operations monitoring, enforcement protocol, and the development of mitigation measures to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and/or performance objectives for each of the following components:
a) noise emissions;
b) water usage (with modifications and final plans due consistent with Conditions 1.b and 2.d of this Decision and Order);
c) water discharges (with modifications and final plans due consistent with Conditions 1.b and 2.d of this Decision and Order);
d) air and water vapor emissions;
e) odors;
f) plant lighting;
g) traffic management;
h) physical plant and site management; and
i) EMF exposure to uncontrolled areas adjacent to the electrical interconnection.
4. Notification
The Certificate Holder shall provide the Council notification of the following events not less than two weeks in advance of their occurrence:
a) commencement of facility construction;
b) commencement of facility testing;
c) commencement of commercial operations; and
d) permanent termination of any operation of the project.
5. Reporting
The Certificate Holder shall provide the following reports:
a) Quarterly progress reports to include the status of all permits, starting with the effective date of this Decision and Order and ending with the commencement of facility operation, or as directed by the Council; and
b) A first year operating report, to be submitted to the Council within three months after the conclusion of the first year of operation, to include:
1. The number of hours when operation on natural gas was curtailed and fuel oil was burned, facility capacity and availability, and the number of and reasons for any interruption in electric generation;
2. Overall condition and reliability of the facility; and
3. Any exceedence of regulatory requirements and/or performance objectives developed consistent with Condition 3 of this Decision and Order.
6. The Certificate Holder shall provide to the Council, when available, the final DEP air emissions, water diversion, and water discharge permits.
7. Unless otherwise approved by the Council, this Decision and Order shall be void if all construction authorized herein is not completed within four years of the effective date of this Decision and Order or within four years after all appeals to this Decision and Order have been resolved.
We hereby direct that a copy of the Findings of Fact, Opinion, and Decision and Order be served on each person listed below, and notice of issuance published in The Hartford Courant and The New Haven Register.
By this Decision and Order, the Council disposes of the legal rights, duties, and privileges of each party named or admitted to the proceeding in accordance with Section 16-50j-17 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
The parties and intervenors to this proceeding are:
Applicant Its Representative
PDC - El Paso Milford, LLC John DeTore, Esq.
Rubin & Rudman
50 Rowes Wharf
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 330-7000
Thomas AtkinsVice
President of Project Development
PDC - El Paso Milford,
LLC200 High Street, 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02110
Intervenor Its Representative
Connecticut Light and Power Company Daniel P. VenoraSenior Counsel
Northeast Utilities Service Company
P.O. Box 270Hartford, CT 06141-0270
(860) 665-3395
Intervenor Its Representative
Southern Connecticut Gas Company David Silverstone
Southern Connecticut Gas Company
855 Main StreetBridgeport, CT 06604
(203) 382-8301
Intervenor Its Representative
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Paul W. Diehl
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
One Corporate DriveShelton, CT 06484
(203) 925-7200
January 19, 1999
John DeTore
Rubin & Rudman, LLP
50 Rowes Wharf
Boston, MA 02110
RE: DOCKET NO. 187 - PDC - El Paso Milford LLC Certificate of Environmental
Compatibility and Public Need for a proposed Milford Power Project located
off of Oronoque Road in Milford, Connecticut.
Dear Attorney DeTore:
At a public meeting of the Connecticut Siting Council (Council) held on January 19, 1999, the Council responded to your request to clarify condition 1.b of the Council’s Decision and Order dated January 8, 1999, and ruled to amend this Decision and Order with a clarification as follows:
This condition is intended to encourage prompt and diligent attention for permitting and construction necessary to alleviate the use of potable water as a cooling source. As used in this condition, the phrase "commencement of operation" means the date of commercial operation of the plant. As used in this condition, the phrase "advance approval" means approval obtained from the Council before the expiration of one year after commencement of operation. The Council’s provisions that allow for "an extension of time if found necessary by the Council to avoid any unnecessary delay or curtailment of facility operations and to meet permitting requirements of other regulatory authorities", used in the context of both the Council’s Opinion and other conditions of the Decision and Order, should be interpreted to mean that the Council will grant all necessary extensions for the facility’s use of potable water until i) all permits have been received for supplies of non-potable water sufficient to meet all cooling needs of the facility and ii) equipment and structures necessary to use non-potable water have been constructed; so long as the Applicant ("PDC-El Paso") has promptly and diligently pursued the permitting and construction process. The Council seeks to avoid a curtailment of facility operation and to provide opportunities for continued operation, taking into consideration the permitting requirements and conditions of other regulatory agencies and the time required to construct the necessary equipment and structures, so long as PDC-El Paso has made good faith efforts to pursue all necessary permits and construct the equipment and structures necessary to use non-potable water.
Very truly yours,
Mortimer A. Gelston
Chairman
JMR/sg
c: Parties and Intervenors