Subject: O&R Electrical Substation Public Hearing (7/7/97) Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 191803 -0500 (CDT) From: GeorgeP123@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <emf-l@mail.llion.org> -------------------------------------------------- Stony Point, NY (7/7/97) The continued Planning Board Public Hearing for the proposed Orange & Rockland Electrical Substation which was held at the Farley Middle School on Monday night and was attended by approximately 50 Stony Point residents who overwhelmingly denouced the companies proposal to place their electrical substation near homes in the residential area of West Main Street and Crickettown Road. The Public Hearing was kept open because sufficient questions were raised and have not been answered regarding safety (increased emf exposure, danger of fire and explosion), noise (increased noise emitting from transformers, cooling fans, etc.), potential of expansion plans and loss of property value. NYC firefighter and batallian commander, and Stony Point resident, Kevin O'Keefe raised several important questions to both the Planning Board on Monday and the Zoning Board last Tuesday night regarding the absence of a firefighting plan and whether the Stony Point fire department has the 1. Manpower 2. Equipment 3. Materials to fight an electrical substation fire. TV and newspaper reports were shown as examples from recent substation fires in Yonkers, NY and Elizabeth, NJ to demonstrate the tremendous difficulty that substation fires present. The Yonkers Fire Department, a full time professional fire department, needed mutal aid manpower, equipment and foam from New York City in order to battle the blazes that raged for almost 4 hours before the fire was brought under control. Both the Yonkers, NY and Elizabeth, NJ were only two of the most recent fires that originated from electrical substations that were located in an industrial, not a residential area. O&R's Garnerville electical substation exploded in 1993 causing large pieces of the substation to pierce nearby homes and land in nearby swimming pools. Luckily no one was injured because the explosion occurred at 5am when no one was outside. Until these and other safety and environmental questions were raised by members of the Stony Point Action Committeee for the Environment (SPACE), O&R did not even consider preparing a fire protection plan for the proposed substation. As a result of the questions that were raised, O&R and the Stony Point Planning Board has now asked the Stony Point Fire Department to develop a plan or determine if such a plan is even workable. Residents from neaby Old Tappan, NJ also testified and presented evidence that when O&R built the substation near their homes, they lied about the amount of noise and disruption it would create in their lives. The steady hummm sound keeps them awake at night, has had effects on their health and has devalued their homes, making it very difficult to enjoy their home or sell their property. While SPACE recognize the need for for O&R to provide electrical service to Stony Point, we have strongly opposed the placement of an electrical substation in a residential area for the past five years because it is not compaitible with Stony Point Zoning and O&R has stated that they cannot guarentee the safety of its operation or protection of nearby residents. The Public Hearing was kept open pending the receipt of the proposed firefighting plan from O&R and the Stony Point Fire Department. For more information, contact: Stephen Leonardo, SPACE SLeo2564@aol.com 914 429-0207 (voice or fax) George Potanovic, Jr., SPACE georgep123@aol.com 914 786-5454 (voice) 914 786-7070 (fax) ****************************************************************************** **** POST YOUR LOCAL NEW RELEASES AND EVENTS IN THE MID AND LOWER HUDSON VALLEY ON ROCKNET. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SUBSCRIBING TO ROCKNET, SEND A NOTE TO GEORGEP123@AOL.COM ****************************************************************************** **** Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html