Repowering is the way to go

To the Editor:

"Energized in Stony Brook" (LIBN, Oct. 19) is a positive sign that renewable, non-polluting energy (like wind and solar), energy conservation and efficiency are much more than personal choice - they are on the agenda of local and state governments. It's internationally acknowledged with former VP Gore getting the Nobel Prize for addressing global warming.

It's stunning that former KeySpan CEO and now National Grid Deputy Chairman Bob Catell is co-chairing the center, for National Grid/KeySpan is one of the largest regional contributors of global- warming gasses. The Northport power station alone belches out over a billion pounds of CO2 per year, according to the DEC.

The Port Jefferson and Glen Cove power plants are also archaic in design and highly polluting. If these plants were built today, they wouldn't be allowed to operate.

Grid/KeySpan can fix this by repowering them with current technology. Pollution drops over 90 percent. Gener-ation increases 2 percent to 300 percent. There are fewer breakdowns, jobs are created, there's less reliance on foreign oil and people are healthier. For every dollar spent on lowering pollution, over $3 is saved in lower medical and health-care costs. Healthier people have fewer sick days, so productivity increases.

If Stony Brook and Grid/KeySpan want to walk the walk, updating the plants will be a major area of study in the new center.

Mark Seratoff, Coordinator, Sustainable Energy Alliance of LI

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