New York Steel Mill Undergoes Transformation, Now is a Clean Wind Energy Farm

According to the New York Times, the old Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna, N.Y. on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie was a "brownfield" not too long ago. A brownfield, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is property that is difficult to expand, redevelop or reuse due to the presence or potential presence of hazardous waste and contamination.

The old Bethlehem Steel Mill has undergone an environmentally-healthy transformation. What was once merely wasted, contaminated land is now the new Steel Winds, a clean wind energy farm.

It is the largest wind farm to rise in a city, according to Christine Real de Azua of the American Wind Energy Association. It is also the first to rise on land overseen by New York's "Brownfields Program," according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

At Steel Winds, 153-foot blades of eight sleek wind turbines slowly turn to generate a total of 56,000 megawatts of electricity a year. It is enough energy to provide power to 7,000 homes, according to Mark Mitskovski, Steel Winds' project manager.

Prior to becoming a clean wind energy site using cutting-edge, environmental technology, Bethlehem Steel was a Superfund site where iron, steel slag, industrial and toxic waste were dumped for about 80 years. The Superfund Program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in conjunction with individual states and tribal governments. It was established by Congress in 1980 to locate, investigate, and clean up the worst hazardous waste sites in the nation.

"We were the old Rust Belt, with all the negatives. Right now, we are progressive and we are leading the way on the waterfront," said Lackawanna's Mayor, Norman L. Polanski, Jr.

"It's a way to convert the Rust Belt to the Wind Belt," Ms. Real de Azua said.

Construction of Steel Winds began in September 2006, six months after the EPA declared the site clean enough to be removed from the Superfund list. Some $300,000 in state and federal monies was used to conduct research of wind patterns and evaluate environmental impact before its construction began. The Department of Environmental Conservation oversees the wind energy farm's development.

The sleek turbines of Steel Winds are owned jointly by BQ Energy of Pawling, N.Y., and UPC Wind of Newton, Mass. Each one cost $4.5 million to create. The owners plan to sell the wind energy they produce to individual customers and utility companies.

According to Front Page, Lackawanna's weekly newspaper, due to Steel Winds' location, south of Buffalo, N.Y. on the shores of Lake Erie, it will likely be the most visible urban wind farm of its size anywhere in the world. Approximately 20 miles south of Niagara Falls, it reinforces the area's reputation as a worldwide center for renewable energy.

Steel Winds has permits to build two more turbines and plans to put up as many as 27 of these sleek, wind energy-producing machines altogether, more than tripling its capacity to provide clean energy.

Source: EPA - http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/glossary.htm

Source: New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/nyregion/22wind.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Source: BQ Energy - http://www.bqenergy.com/steelwinds/PDFs/frontpage090606.pdf