Future of Manresa Island? More Questions than Answers

It was standing  room only in the community room at the Norwalk Police Station on Wednesday night for a public hearing on the future of Manresa Island power plant.

The deactivation of the 1950s plant, which was originally fueled by coal, and later by oil, was announced back in June. During its history, the plant was sold to from Connecticut Light & Power to NRG Energy, Inc, who, in turn are preparing to sell, re-power or develop the site.

After introductory remarks from Mayor Rilling and State Senator Duff, Chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, the 90 minute session afforded the public a chance to pepper Duff and NRG's Raymond Long, VP Government Affairs, and Drew Warshaw,  Senior Director for Renewable Development, East Region at NRG with questions.

Duff explained that prior to deactivation, NRG had been running the plant on a "peek demand time basis," which boiled down to 10-20 days a year, a reflection of demand on very cold and very hot days when customers crank up the heat or air conditioning. 

Duff added that although natural gas prices are low in Connecticut, and demand exceeds capacity, it would not be a simple process to reconfigure the plant for natural gas.

The Manresa Island plant has at various points in time been included in the "Filthy Five" and the "Sooty Six," designations referring to high levels of pollution.

Charlie Taney, Chair of the Manresa Neighborhoods Association (MNA) was prepared with questions. The MNA, which was formed two months ago, has 416 households as members, coming from the neighborhoods of Harbor Shores, Harbor View, Shore Front Park, Village Creek and Wilson Point. Members of Norwalk's sailing community are also involved.

Taney followed up on a list nine questions his group submitted to NRG in advance of the public meeting. Most of Taney's questions concerned the uncertain accumulation of contaminated coal ash, its removal, and plans to prevent it from washing off Manresa Island and into Long Island Sound, private property and protected wetlands. Taney also expressed concern about any plans dragging on for 10 to 15 years.

Duff assured the public that NRG had worked with the Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection and that the site is "effectively locked down" and has 24-hour security.

Of the Manresa site's 124 acres, an estimated 45 acres may have been created by the accumulation of coal ash, which is contaminated. Depending on the future use of the site, remediation of the fill is a variable that will factor into the accounting. For example, remediation would be set at a higher standard if the site turned over to residential use than if it were dedicated to passive use or left capped and untouched. 

"It's probably less than pristine," Duff acknowledged after a series of questions about remediation. "Though part of the remediation might be taking place naturally," Duff suggested, referring to trees that have taken hold in the coal ash fill.

With a nod to the complexity and enormity of the process ahead, Duff injected a sense of humor as he summarized what is known fact. 

"It is big. It is blue. People might think there is something better to look at," Duff said, adding that he had received a number of emails from members of the community with suggestions for the decommissioned power plant, ranging form open space, to a plant running an alternate type of energy, to a wildlife sanctuary. 

NRG's Warshaw summarized three options his company is considering for Manresa: Sell it, re-power it with another type of energy, or redevelop the site for another use.

Both Warshaw and Long said repeatedly that Wednesday's meeting represented a process at its "infancy." Warshaw replied to one question about NRG's possible "immediate dispossession" of Manresa by saying that NRG wants to maximize its value as a public company and that it had the interests of its shareholders in mind.

Duff adjourned the meeting at 8:30p.m. sharp, saying that future meetings will convened to continue the conversation.