Newspaper Project Moves Forward

Officials with Besicorp-Empire Development Co. said Monday, March 12, they plan to take care of shortfalls identified by the state in their plan to build a combined newspaper recycling mill and 505-megawatt power plant.

"We're working diligently right now with all our consultants," said William T. Seils, Besicorp's president.

In mid-February, the state's Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment told Besicorp that its application, filed under New York's fast-track Article 10 process, was incomplete -- a not-uncommon occurrence, according to some people familiar with the process.

Additional details requested cover things such as noise, traffic and water quality impacts. Seils said he hopes to complete the application "over the next month or so."

Seils said the company remains in discussions with investors who could finance the project, which is slated to cost $680 million.

Those conversations are going on at a time when the markets for both recycled newsprint and new power plants have fallen on rough patches.

Last week, for example, energy giant El Paso Corp. backed off plans to announce a new generator in Wallkill. Other companies have scaled back their power-plant investments, too.

Seils said his company could raise the money for the complex, which would be built on the site of the former BASF Corp. factory near the Hudson River. "The bottom line is, there is still a need for power in New York state," he said. "We feel strongly about our business model."

Rensselaer's mayor, Mark Pratt, also was confident. He spoke with Seils last week. "From what I've been told," he said, "they're doing everything they need to do." Times Union (New York)