Plant eyed for months

Local News

Discussion

The Salem News has a real-name policy for commenting. Users may sign in using the Facebook Connect tool above the comments field. Once your first comment is posted by a moderator, all future comments will post automatically. If you prefer not to use Facebook, send an e-mail with your comments user name (which must be the same as your real name), city or town, street address and daytime phone number to comments@salemnews.com. A staff member will contact you directly to confirm your identity. It may take a day or two before you can post comments. Only your user name will be public. All users are required to follow our rules for commenting, which can be found here.

comments powered by Disqus

February 2, 2012

Salem would be company's first fossil fuel facility

By Tom Dalton Staff writer The Salem News Thu Feb 02, 2012, 05:00 AM EST

The rows of chairs at Bentley School were nearly filled last year for two public meetings on a reuse study for the Salem Harbor Station power plant.

In attendance were city officials, environmental activists, and residents who live near the 745-megawatt coal- and oil-fired plant that is slated to close in 2014.

Also in the audience, listening but not speaking, were two executives from Footprint Power, a fledgling company from New Jersey formed to do just what Salem is trying to do: Find a new use for an old fossil fuel plant on its last legs.

Although it has followed the situation here closely and for months, Footprint remained in the shadows until this week, when Dominion, the power plant owner, mentioned the company's name during meetings with workers and union officials. The Virginia energy giant wanted to give its employees advance notice of a filing that Footprint made, a filing expected to become public this week requesting permission to connect the Salem plant to the regional electricity grid in 2016.

Now that word is out about a prospective, and some say likely, buyer for the 62-acre power plant property, Footprint is still playing it close to the vest. They don't want to say too much until this multimillion-dollar deal is done. But a few things are known.

Footprint was formed in 2009 and has yet to acquire an old fossil fuel plant.

"This will be their first project as Footprint," said Carole Brennan, a company spokeswoman, "but the executive team has decades of experience in this area, much of it in Massachusetts."

That team is headed by the two men who sat silently in the crowd at Bentley, two lawyers with extensive backgrounds in power generation, CEO Peter Furniss and President Scott Silverstein. They worked together years ago at Sithe Energies of New York, which owns and operates power plants.

They also have worked for different companies that own generation facilities around Greater Boston, according to the company website.

They both have educational ties to this state: Silverstein was an undergraduate at Boston University, while Furniss graduated from Harvard Law School.

Salem Harbor Station "fits perfectly into their mission," Brennan said. "It matches up exactly with the goals of the new company."

"Footprint Power was formed by power industry executives to help owners identify the opportunities presented by the shuttered and challenged facilities in their portfolios," the company's website states. "We understand the unique needs of generation owners and are experienced in navigating the regulatory and legal environment in which owners and their facilities operate."

Footprint has already made overtures to IBEW Local 326, which represents hourly workers at the Salem plant, and has been in contact with area officials and groups.

"These guys are very respectful of the stakeholders," Brennan said. "They have talked with a lot of people already."

Brennan confirmed that the company is looking to build a natural gas power plant — and to develop much more of the 62-acre waterfront site.

"They are looking at the commercial and industrial uses that are consistent with the ideas in the reuse study," she said.

That $200,000, state-funded study, which was completed only weeks ago, is posted on the city's website.

HealthLink, the North Shore environmental group that fought to close Salem Harbor Station, reacted cautiously to news that the coal- and oil-fired plant may be replaced by a gas-fired facility.

"We have a lot of questions and are looking forward to getting more information," said Jane Bright, a longtime HealthLink leader.

While noting that gas is still a fossil fuel that produces greenhouse gases, Bright acknowledged that it is "far better" than coal. She also said the group understands there are limited short-term options for the site and realized that a natural gas plant was one of the strong possibilities.

"I think we're realistic," she said. "And I think if it's done right ... it's something that's going to be hard not to embrace."

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Plant eyed for months

Salem would be company's first fossil fuel facility

Site Map

Reader Access