Extell, Riverside Center Revisions and Plumes

As we have heard, Extell is revising their plans to account for the plume of exhaust coming from the adjacent IRT Powerhouse, currently owned and operated by Con Ed as a steam generating plant. But something is wrong. There must be something else going on here. The revisions they made supposedly to account for exhaust plumes don’t make any kind of sense. They don’t avoid the plumes you actually see coming out of the smokestacks.

The Powerhouse has one giant, highly visible exhaust stack. It also has several short exhaust stacks, extending just a story or so above the roof line of the building, which is less than ten stories tall. Here is the problem, which anyone who visits the area can see for themselves:

The giant stack almost never has anything coming out of it, while the short stacks frequently have lots of visible exhaust coming out of them.

Here you can see a picture of the Powerhouse that shows its single massive tower (click on the picture to enlarge it):

If you look at this picture, you will notice nothing coming out of the top of the big smokestack, but if you follow it down to the base of the tower, you will notice a short smokestack silhouetted against it with a clear, wind-driven plume going up and to the left.

There are also a handful of short smokestacks along the valley in the center of the building, not visible in the above picture. They are just past the roof line you can see. They also emit visible exhaust.

If Extell were required to re-design their buildings to account for plumes coming from the Powerhouse, wouldn’t it make sense for the adjustment to account for the smokestacks that actually have smoke coming out of them? Wouldn’t you think they would put a park between the Powerhouse and the new buildings, as RSPC has proposed, or at least a smaller, truly public park next to the Powerhouse as proposed (separately, and with differences) by the Coalition for a Livable West Side and the consultants to CB7? How exactly is making giant buildings immediately next to the short smokestacks of the Powerhouse supposed to be protecting the public?

Do I know exactly what is coming out of those smokestacks? Of course not. It could be anything, including something completely innocent. If you think it's easy to just ask Con Ed and they'll tell you, I suggest you try it and see if you have better luck than I did. It would sure be nice if there were some transparency here, on all fronts.

Comments

[p]

Let's think about it. This is a steam plant. Where does the steam go? Through pipes under the streets to be distributed throughout midtown. Ever see a plastic pipe in the street (maybe 10 feet tall) with steam coming out the top? Notice any similarity between that steam and what you see coming out of the short stacks on the Con Ed building? Aha.

[David Black]

I always thought it was steam too. But then the issue of plume from the Powerplant came up, and Extell responded with a design that makes the building closest to the tall stack (corner of WEA and 59th St) even taller! Usually, when you respond to those issues, you make the affected buildings smaller. Whenever I've tried to find out what comes out of which stack, I get a brick wall. No one is willing to say anything, or refer me to someone who will.

Given this refusal to supply the facts and the response by Extell that goes in the opposite direction you would expect if the concern is the tall tower, I am no longer feeling confident of my guesses of what is coming out of which towers. They responded to a set of concerns that were not made public, so I can't double-check them on my own either. So I think it's an issue well worth raising, in spite of the fact that, in the absence of any other issues, you would think the small stacks were (literally) letting off steam.