A convenient idea, an inconvenient spot

Volume One, Issue 25, March 9 - 15, 2007

Editorial

A cornerstone of New York University’s new Green Action Plan is the expansion and upgrading of its 30-year-old co-generation plant. Recently, N.Y.U. became one of the nation’s largest institutional purchasers of wind energy, and the co-generation project is in this same green vein.

The $126 million co-generation project would expand the number of N.Y.U. buildings the university powers with electricity from seven to 30. The existing plant heats 40 N.Y.U. buildings, as would the upgraded plant.

It’s a trend for hospitals, institutions and universities to go “off the grid.” Valuable research and computers, among other things, need blackout-proof power. Also, it just makes sense to lessen the load on an already overstretched power grid.

It’s hard to argue that this project isn’t good for the environment. The upgraded co-generation plant will release significantly less carbon dioxide (greenhouse gases), regulated pollutants and particulate matter when compared with Con Edison. In short, it’s a project we think Al Gore would like.

Nevertheless, Councilmember Alan Gerson, as part of his ongoing task force on Washington Square issues, has assembled an environmental team, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pace University’s Energy Group, to look into the project’s emissions and other impacts, and expects a report soon.

But the project’s location is the sticking point. N.Y.U.’s preference is to build it under Mercer St., between W. Third and W. Fourth Sts., essentially excavating into property it doesn’t own. Residents of 250 Mercer St. object to the prospect of being saddled with the construction burden, as well as losing 25 soaring trees, 12 of them quite large, that they treasure. N.Y.U. hoped to sweeten the deal by promising to build a new park, with 30-foot-tall replacement trees, on Mercer St. after the project was done. But the offer didn’t win over neighbors.

Some think N.Y.U. should further sweeten the pot by fixing the other dilapidated strips on Mercer St. between W. Third and Houston Sts. The university says a demapping would be needed, which would take awhile.

The university may well have to end up building its co-generation plant under Gould Plaza, its own property. This would mean temporarily relocating up to 12 annual events the university holds there to surrounding streets, and N.Y.U. also permanently losing more than 10 classrooms beneath Gould Plaza.

A third alternative has emerged, under which Con Ed systems would be placed under a smaller portion of Mercer St., with most of the work under Gould Plaza.

Whatever option is chosen, there will be construction impacts. We know Community Board 2 will be giving this all a hard look and possibly coming up with a resolution.

But this co-generation project makes sense, globally and, ultimately, locally. The only thing that’s left is for N.Y.U. and the community to come to an agreement on how to execute it.