The New York Public Service Commission on May 17 accepted Rochester Gas and Electric Corp.’s (RG&E) demolition and remediation plan detailing for the company’s 257-MW, coal-fired Russell plant, which had been decommissioned in 2008.
To facilitate the cost review process, and provide for ongoing monitoring of the implementation of the demolition plan, the commission will require RG&E to make additional compliance filings concerning: the competitively-selected demolition contractor; cost control and quality assurance efforts; and quarterly reporting, starting in October, listing environmental permits and approvals obtained, as well as detailed progress on structural demolition and site remediation once the contractor commences operations. Also, RG&E is required to provide ground and surface water monitoring data in the reports.
The demolition plan is to be implemented without adversely affecting the electric substation and transmission facilities it owns on property abutting the Russell site, the commission noted.
Also, the commission authorized RG&E to recover the costs of the demolition plan from the approximately $12m currently held in the Russell decommissioning fund, and to the extent the costs exceed $12m, RG&E may defer costs in excess of the reserve fund. All such costs are subject to later review by the commission.
RG&E is a unit of Iberdrola USA.
