JAMESTOWN BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES ENTERS INTO AGREEMENT WITH THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION TO FURTHER REDUCE OPACITY EMISSIONS

On June 26, 2001 the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities agreed to an Order on Consent with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to further improve opacity emissions at the S.A. Carlson Generating Station. "Opacity" is the technical name for the darker smoke emissions that are occasionally emitted from utility stacks. The Agreement provides for increased monitoring of opacity emissions, additional preventive maintenance, a detailed analysis of the cause of each exceedance, installation of a real-time precipitator monitoring system, and appropriate corrective measures.

The BPU has an exemplary record of compliance with the opacity rules. Over the last three years, the BPU has been in compliance with the opacity emissions rules approximately 99.9% of the time. The rare exceedance of the rule has largely been attributable to the unique nature of fossil fuel fired utility generators, which, during certain operating and emergency conditions, cannot avoid exceedances. However, the BPU has sought to reduce even these emissions. When all exceedance periods were totaled, the time out of compliance amounted to less than 1 1/2 days in the last three years.

As noted in the Order, the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities "has worked diligently to address the opacity performance of the Facility."

The BPU currently employs a wide-ranging opacity control program, including constant monitoring, regular preventive maintenance and corrective action. The BPU is looking forward to working with the NYSDEC to further improve its performance and reduce these emissions.

JAMESTOWN BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES PROVIDES CLEAN, LOW-COST POWER

The City of Jamestown Board of Public Utilities supplies clean, low-cost power to the residents and businesses of the City and the surrounding community. Jamestown is a public-power community - the customers, residents and taxpayers of Jamestown have invested in and own the electric system.

Jamestown takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. The Board of Public Utilities complies with all state and federal laws and regulations in the environmental area. Jamestown is in the midst of a $40 million capital improvement project, its largest ever, installing a cleaner burning, natural gas-fired turbine rated at 43 megawatts to help supply the homes and businesses of Jamestown in the future and upgrading its distribution system. The City also has a 53 megawatt coal-fired power plant, which has had $30 million dollars of environmental improvements installed during the past few years. In fact, in order to use energy more efficiently, Jamestown installed a nationally recognized, state-of-the-art district heating system a number of years ago. This system uses waste heat from the power plant to provide heating to businesses. This co-generation system allows the Board of Public Utilities to get more useful energy out of every unit of energy burned, while ridding a relatively dense area of town of the emissions from many small, inefficient boilers.

Jamestown also gets the bulk of its power (over 72 megawatts) from the hydroelectric power project at Niagara Falls. This low-cost, clean power is under contract until 2013. Jamestown has a diverse power system that provides clean, low-cost energy to the community.

A recent report from a group of environmentalists, including the New York Public Interest Research Group, criticized the existing law and regulations. The study's objective is to make existing law more stringent. The report suggested negative health effects from power plants throughout the region. Jamestown's emissions are monitored on a regular basis.

Walter Haase, P.E., General Manager of the Board of Public Utilities, said: "We work very hard to make sure that the people in Jamestown have the cleanest burning energy we can provide. With the addition of our natural gas-fired turbine later this year, we will be cleaner than before. Our objective is to continually improve our operations and to meet or exceed all current and future environmental standards mandated by all state and federal agencies. The environmental improvements that we have put in place cost a great deal of money but have been essential to the health and welfare of the local community. And that remains our highest priority."