The various toxic substances that are commonly found to have contaminated manufactured gas plants include benzene, a cancer-causing agent, BTEX, cyanides, and many other toxic substances that are a known risk to public health.Some of the issues that have plagued the facility include in 1973, the steel liner of the dome was found to have buckled. Entergy bought the remaining Indian Point reactors in 2001.Consolidated Edison built its energy empire at a time when asbestos was used heavily by the utilities industry. The company has the world’s largest system of underground cables (extending 94,000 miles) in addition to 36,000 miles of overhead wires.
Cranking Out Power.
These types of plant required large quantities of water and were built along the waterways. The plant’s original six-story boilers were so large that one of them accommodated a 100-person luncheon held in honor of the plant’s opening in 1926. With the completion of the East River Repowering Project (ERRP) in 2004, which saw the installation of two new gas turbines, heat recovery steam generators, and gas compressors, both steam and electric output at East River increased while overall facility emissions fell.The reactors and their continued use is an issue of contention. In time, the Hudson Avenue plant ceased electric generation and produced steam only.Originally built for Consolidated Edison, the plant was sold to KeySpan in 1999 as part of a divestiture plan and is now owned by TransCanada.USPowerGen has plans for a repowering project at the Astoria plant that would increase its generating capacity by about 15 percent while reducing its air emissions. New York Edison merged with its parent company, Consolidated Gas, a year later to form Consolidated Edison Company of New York.The 59th Street Powerhouse, better known as the IRT Powerhouse, occupies the entire city block between 11th and 12th avenues and 58th and 59th streets in Manhattan. One of those electric companies was Edison Electric. The plant had other modern advances, including the use of pulverized coal and a special water spray system that was put in place to catch cinders.Con Ed has been involved in a voluntary cleanup program on the former Hunts Point site, although earlier there was extensive work done to remove contaminants.
USPowerGen shares the property with three other tenants, including New York Power Authority and NRG Energy.Con Ed in 1962 proposed building a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant at the Ravenswood site that would have been the largest nuclear-generating station in the world.
It was located at 255-257 Pearl Street in Manhattan on a site measuring 50 by 100 feet (15 by 30 m), just south of Fulton Street and fired by coal. Formerly owned by Consolidated Edison, Astoria Generating Station was sold to Orion Power Holdings in 1999 as part of a Con Ed divestiture plan and is now owned by US Power Generating Company (USPowerGen). The offensive odor of the vapors produced by the contaminants has been a troublesome factor as well.Thomas E. Murray, a businessman and inventor, was responsible for the design and construction of Hudson Avenue Powerhouse and eight other power-generating plants in New York City.