Energy

Major Oil Storage Facilities

The MOSF program applies to facilities that store a total of 400,000 gallons or more of petroleum in aboveground and underground storage tanks. Facilities must be licensed by DEC and managed in compliance with applicable regulations for the storage and handling of petroleum.

I Love Oil

You know, I really love oil. Not in it’s crudest form, or even gasoline β€” that nasty stuff you put in your truck, or even in it’s form of energy β€” that powers my truck. I love it because oil is such a beautiful thing β€” it takes one to beautiful places, it gives one the most wonderful experiences.

It’s oil that takes me up to the woods. It’s oil that takes me down rough state truck trails and smooth superhighways, the fly high above beautiful valleys. It’s oil that take me to the mountains, it’s oil that takes me out on the town to meet interesting people. It’s oil that goes in the bus that takes me to work. It’s oil (and it’s cousin natural gas) that keeps lights on, the beer cold, and good times rolling on.

Oil Slick on the Hudson River

I love oil, despite my
sometimes troubled relationship with it.

Sticking Your Head Into the Sand Over Oil

There is a popular Internet meme that goes along these lines:

“I am poor. So when I hear my car making a noise,
rather then taking it to the repair shop, I just turn up the radio.”

This kind of reminds me of the hype over fracking for oil and gas. It was a good distraction for a while — and indeed the United States got a big boost in it’s oil production for a while — it seems like as fast as the oil glut came it is now going away. A booming global economy has expanded the world’s thirst for this economy, and with Middle East production on a decline, it seems like it’s only a matter of time that we remember the serious energy crisis our world faces in the future. β›½

There are politicians all over that like to believe we live in a sea of oil, and that suburbia will last forever. Indeed, a good portion of the green minded people think that once we switch over to electric plug-in cars powered by distant solar cells, motoring can go on care free, with no concerns about the resources being consumed or emissions being produced away from the tailpipe. But at some point, no matter how long you stick year head into the ground, our long term habit of expanding the population and feeling richer by burning more oil each year, will come to bite us. 🐲

Nobody knows when the global oil crisis will truly bite us. High oil prices once again may spur conservation and innovation like new fracking techniques πŸ›’ but the truth is the oil fueled party can’t go on forever. I like my big jacked up truck, but I’m not stupid — I know the world of ever growing demand for oil is going to be confronted by reality at some point. And the next result isn’t going to be pretty. Climate change, expensive energy, massive reductions in consumption are going to be the future. While there may be some benefit to some, the next effect will be serious impacts to millions who are forced to make dramatic changes in how they live and go through life.

Harford Mills Brine Storage Ponds

There are two large brine storage ponds at the Enterprise Products Propane Storage facility in Harford Mills NY, outside of Ithaca and Cortland. They pump brine out of underground storage caverns and use it to store 680,000 BbLs of Propane.

https://www.enterpriseproducts.com/customers/natural-gas-liquids/#HarfordMillsNY

More about Brine Storage Ponds: https://www.layfieldgroup.com/geosynthetics/project-profiles/brine-storage-pond-storage-of-natural-gas-liquids-.aspx

Bethlehem Energy Center Aka Albany Steam Station

 Bethlehem Energy Center Aka Albany Steam Station

Key Facts:
Location: Bethlehem, NY
MW: 790
Fuel: Natural Gas (Low Sulfur Distillate Oil As Secondary)
Technology: Combined-Cycle
Commercial Operation: 2005

https://www.pseg.com/family/power/fossil/stations/bethlehem.jsp

"Albany Steam Power Station first began operations in 1952 as a coal-fired station and was converted to oil in 1970. It was further modified in 1981 for natural gas and became a 400MW oil and natural gas-fired power plant. The BEC has cut emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxide by 90%, and reduced sulphur dioxide emissions by 94%. The BEC generates 50% less waste heat than the Albany Steam Station and has reduced air emissions by at least 95%."

https://www.power-technology.com/projects/bethlehem/

"The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board) has announced approval of plans to make hardware and software changes at the Bethlehem Energy Center in Glenmont that are designed to help improve the plant’s energy efficiency. The petition was submitted by the plant’s owner, PSEG Power New York LLC. The approved changes will allow for the replacement of certain components of the three combustion turbines and certain changes to related software programs. The equipment being replaced are components of the combustion turbines themselves. According to the Siting Board, the upgrades will result in very little, if any, impact on the environment or the surrounding community, and will not result in any increase in air emissions from the facility."

https://www.spotlightnews.com/news/2017/01/12/state-siting-board-oks-plans-to-improve-bethlehem-energy-center/

How bad is solar for the environment? 🌞🏭

The fastest growing form of suburban sprawl over the next ten years is not likely to be shopping mauls, tract housing, or apartment complexes. Instead it’s likely to be the acres and acres of industrial solar facilities that are popping up everywhere. Some of it will be forest land chopped down and some of it will be farm land – although most will be either low quality brushy abandoned farmlands or low quality pasture and hay grounds – as they are the most affordable to develop.

Now the greenies may want you to believe that industrial solar facilities have zero impact on the land or that they may be a net improvement. I don’t know, they certainly impact the scenic characteristics of the land by developing it. Wildlife habits will be altered as will land cover. But on the flip side, solar farm development has a limited impact on compaction and damage to the soil – compared to most housing, commercial or industrial development. A solar farm ripped up, grounds tilled, fertilized and seeded after a few years probably could be largely restored as the marginal ag land or forest land they once were. Solar farms keep the land in the hands of relatively few owners which makes it easier to return to farm land or forest lands when the time comes.

I think there is a lot of wishful thinking about solar panel recycling. Yes, there are some interesting research going on but anybody who is serious knows what is going to happen to most solar panels when they are discarded – useful parts will be sold on the second hand market to other more marginalelectric companies, off-gridders and the third world. Copper wire and transformers are valuable at scrap yards. Even smaller parts like blocking diodes are likely in some cases to be resold. The I beams and racks have value on the scrap yard. Most broken or worn out panels are likely to be smashed and landfilled at construction and debris landfills, but with their aluminum frames salvaged as scrap metal. Probably there is a lot less glass and debris in the panels once they are crushed. Concrete pads and footings might be landfilled or pulverized and used as beneficial fill depending on low conditions.

I was reading that a lot of farmers actually like these mega-solar facilities despite consumption of land that produces feed. If anything, removing marginal land off the market might increase commodity prices. In many cases the solar companies aren’t buying the land but leasing it as tenants, usually with an agreement to remove the panels and frames once they are no longer useful. If the solar companies abandon the facilities, there is still a lot of scrap metal from the panels, mounting platforms, and wire that can be sold, and panels can provide power on farm or be sold. And solar facilities don’t care about the smell of manure or smoke, the noise of tractors or cattle, they don’t run their ATVs in farmers fields. And they aren’t necessarily permanent. They can be removed, scrapped and hauled to landfills and land largely restored.

My criticism over the industrial solar facilities is I’m not sure how really valuable they are as a climate solution or improving the environment. I think they are oversold compared to the amount of energy they put into the grid, they’re impacts on scenic beauty, open space and the environment downplayed. They are taking tens of thousands of acres – maybe soon hundreds of thousands of acres and turning it into industrial electricity generating facilities while having a fairly minor impact on the grid and carbon emissions. For something that is largely duplicate of the fossil plants that generate energy with far lower environmental footprint.