Hearing takes comment on Mineville Energy Storage Project
PLAN: Moriah's long-awaited mines hydro project is closer to construction
By LOHR McKINSTRY Press-Republican Aug 2, 2019
MORIAH – The hydroelectric project proposed for Moriah’s old iron mines got a little closer to reality this week after a public hearing on the draft environmental impact statement.
About 30 people attended the forum Tuesday night at Moriah Central School, with some asking questions about possible ground tremors and water release caused by the $260 million project.
The Mineville Energy Storage Project proposed by Albany Engineering/Moriah Hydro would generate power by releasing water from upper to lower mines into generating turbines during high-demand periods, then pumping it back up with the same turbines acting as pumps when electrical demand is low.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fisheries biologist Christopher Millard, the coordinator for the permit process, opened the hearing by telling the crowd there were four areas of concern with the project.
He said seismic activity, subsidence of the mine shafts, hydrological connections between the mines, and soil erosion during construction would all need to be addressed.
“They (Moriah Hydro) offered to look at the seismic risk, they proposed to reseal all shafts within project boundaries, seal water-bearing seams (and) they looked at an erosion control plan,” he said.
FERC asked for some additional safeguards to those four items, and that will be in the final environmental impact study, he said.
The draft impact study was issued June 18, and comments on it will be taken at ferc.gov until Aug. 19, with the final study expected in February 2020.
A permit for the project could be issued after that, possibly by June 2020, with construction to commence within three years and completion within five.
During the public comment period, resident Ed Goralczyk asked “has anyone been down in the mines?” to assess them.
“The program mines are filled with water,” Millard said. “It’s not possible to enter.”
Albany Engineering/Moriah Hydro President James Besaw Sr. said entry won’t be made until the mines are pumped out during construction.
The project’s surface building will be near the site of the present Moriah Solid Waste Transfer Station, with that land swapped between Moriah Hydro and the Town of Moriah for property off Decker’s Flats.
The mines that would be used are Old Bed and Harmony, he said, about 2,500 feet underground and the length of nine football fields.
Besaw said the project would create five to 15 permanent jobs, and 100 to 200 construction jobs during a two-year build process.
The total energy output would be 260 megawatts, fed into a nearby 115-kilovolt high-voltage line owned by National Grid.
Resident Katrinka Trombley asked about possible tremors from the project affecting her Witherbee home.
“I wouldn’t expect any seismic activity,” Besaw said, and monitoring seismographs will be installed just in case.
There’s a bat hibernaculum in the New Bed Mine adjacent to the project mines, and that will be monitored as well with bat protection measures. The bats, including brown and Indiana bats, are also in the Barton Hill Mine.
The planing for the project started in the 1990s, the actual process began in 2005, and FERC received the permit application in 2015.
“We’re closer than we were,” Millard said as the hearing wrapped up.