Fortistar Power Facility

The Tiller is bristling at the news North Tonawanda may lose more than $200,000 in water revenues from the Fortistar power facility. First the not-too-factual report of Gratwick — Riverside Park remediation, next the pending demolition of a historic building owned by the National Grid (Niagara Mohawk) and now this social injustice: Fortistar buying raw water from Lockport to operate their steam electric generation plant. Wait until you read this!

To get full dimension to this program, a little background information is in order.

Back in the early ‘70s when oil embargoes put a crimp in America’s lifestyle, federal legislation developed an energy plan that supported the production of electric energy, which could be sold into the national grid at a fixed rate of six cents a kilowatt hour. At the time of this legislation, power could be bought from Canada for 3.3 cents a kilowatt-hour. Further, it would entice corporate investment, insure adequate supplies and stabilize power rates. These new power plants were to be built in “opportunity zones” and be awarded “site specific.”

Corporate energy giants jumped on this opportunity. The map came out and there it was, an “opportunity zone,” the city of North Tonawanda, a great blue-collar community, rich in diverse ethnic heritage and in the evening of a solid industrial past. A community of leaders and residents looked for a glimmer of hope as industrial doors slowly closed.

Soon the city was besieged by corporate gunslingers, magicians, voodoo accountants and public relations peddlers all with the same message, “Do we have a deal for you.”

Their proposal, also known as “bait,” was to build a power producing facility in the community, hire people, buy a million gallons of water per day for their steam turbine generators (water revenue), discharge water to sanitary sewers (sewer revenues) and build a new little league facility that would be displaced from the site they would build on.

Now onto the “switch” part of their plan. Steam from the plant would be piped to a tomato growing facility on Shawnee road as a heat source. Condensation from the steam would be returned and reused. They would never need one million gallons of water per day. Good-bye, projected water revenues. “Dirty water” was processed on-site to meet state and federal guidelines, and then discharged to a storm sewer. Good-bye, sanitary revenues.

And guess what? They “cheaped out” on the building of a new little league facility. The scope of the work they proposed fell way short of what they did. A National Guard Engineering unit had to be utilized to make the site ready. City forces installed waterline and paved the parking lot.

The only “honesty” in their proposal was the utilization of the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency to jump-start the new venture. Oxbow power enjoyed these full benefits for its 10-year duration, and then “transferred” it to Fortistar (another member of their corporate circle) who will now enjoy another 10-year benefit. In the year 2002, Fortistar escaped $610,000 in city taxes, $1,272,000 in city school taxes and now hopes to “cheap out” of $200,000 in water revenues. The circle goes unbroken, all at the expense of the taxpayer.

“Three cheers” to the local leaders who passed a local use resolution in attempt to thwart the loss of this water revenue.  In the future, local leaders should look into all conditions of IDA’s before there is another “bait and switch.”