New Coal Pier Proposed For South Shore Of Lake Ontario
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10. 4.07
Shifting Great Lakes area coal shipments from trains to barges must be driven by significant cost savings.
"AES Corp. plans to build a $25 million dock reaching into Lake Ontario to receive ships carrying coal and limestone to supply its power plant in Somerset in Niagara County...The 3,200-foot-long dock also will be made available to other companies in Western New York that want to use freighters to import cargo by way of the Great Lakes."
"There are five such piers on northern shore of Lake Ontario in Canada, but this would be the first on American side."
"Currently, AES receives 2.2 million tons of coal and limestone a year via rail. Freight trains from across the United States pull directly onto the property. Crushed limestone is used to extract sulfur from the gas generated in the coal burning process."
Wondering where the coal comes from? Pennsylvania, via Lake Erie apparently. See the table below for indications.
Wonder how the rapidly receding water levels of the Great Lakes might affect proposed pier operations? Predetermined answer to our own question: as Ontario levels further recede, the US will ask taxpayers to foot the bill for the US Army Corps of Engineers to dredge an approach channel and slips along side. That's OK, because they'll be handy for servicing the offshore wind turbines that will eventually be used to replace the high carbon output of this plant.
Via::Buffalo News, Business Today, "AES plans pier for Somerset power plant", Image credits:: Buffalo News and DOE, via Final State Energy Plan For New York
