Port Jefferson mulls power plant takeover

The Village of Port Jefferson is exploring the possibility of taking over a National Grid power plant in the village through eminent domain, an official said.

The effort, which would result in the village owning the plant, is aimed at extending its life in the face of a possible future decommissioning as owner National Grid negotiates its contract with the Long Island Power Authority, Mayor Margot Garant said.

"We don't want another Shoreham on our hands," she said, referring to the decommissioned nuclear power plant.

Asked about National Grid's position on a possible condemnation by the village, spokeswoman Wendy Ladd said in an email, "National Grid is in contract with LIPA to run the Port Jefferson power plant to 2013."

Garant said the village has hired a plant valuation expert and a regulatory consultant in Albany to help review the condemnation prospect. The best-case scenario: that National Grid and LIPA reach an agreement to overhaul the plant to make it as viable as the Caithness plant in Yaphank, which has essentially displaced much of the Port Jefferson plant's output.

Garant said work has already begun to determine the value of the plant, which supplies electrical capacity to LIPA under a contract that expires next year. The plant, which is 64 years old and has been used less as more efficient ones such as Caithness have come online, can produce 362 megawatts of power. The village would prefer the plant be overhauled and its contract to supply power to the region renewed or extended. "We want to make sure our site remains a viable site," Garant said.

The site is an important source of revenue for the village. In 2010, LIPA paid $25 million in taxes or payments in lieu of taxes to the village, school district and Brookhaven Town for siting the plant in Port Jefferson. The Port Jefferson school district gets $14 million of that -- about 40 percent its annual budget. In 2010, the village got $2.4 million in taxes, nearly 30 percent of its $8.4-million budget.

It's unclear what it would cost to condemn the plant. "We realize there's a huge amount of risk associated with this process," Garant said. "I feel it's important to understand the process and be ready if need be to pull the trigger."

An overhaul would make the plant operate cleaner and add another 200 megawatts of capacity. A 2009 study by LIPA said the plant could be overhauled for $614 million to $685 million. LIPA spokesman Mark Gross declined to comment on a possible condemnation by the village.