What Was That Loud Noise Heard On Roosevelt Island This Morning? Not An Explosion, Jet Engine or Machine Gun Fire But Transcanada's Big Allis Ravenwood Power Plant Pressure Relief Valve Releasing Steam Says NYC OEM And RIOC
Some Roosevelt Island residents were woken up and startled early this morning at around 6 AM by the sound of what appeared to be a loud explosion. One resident sent me this message asking:
Any idea what this deafening jet engine sound is coming from the bridge/tram area is at 6 am? Been going on for 30 min.and Toasty Ramirez tweeted:
does anyone in roosevelt island/astoria/LIC/QueensBridge hear that sound outside? sounds like a bunch of machine guns going offThe NYC Office of Emergency Management was looking into the source of the noise and tweeted at Notify NYC:
Loud noise near 40 Ave and Vernon Blvd, QN, audible in QN and MN. FDNY on scene, no explosion, fire, or impact to utilities occurredthen OEM found out what happened:
Source of loud noise near Vernon/40th Ave, QN was pressure relief valve at Ravenswood Power Plant. No public/environmental hazard.The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) also reported:
the loud noise that is being heard on Roosevelt Island is the steam being released from the power plant in queens.Another Roosevelt Island resident asks:
It is not a hazardous condition.
Sincerely,
Roosevelt Island Operating Corp Advisories Group
Could you please find out why Keyspan feels the need to vent steam from their power plant at 6 AM. This started today at 6.04 am and is still going on. It sounds loud enough to wake the dead! Thanks...The Ravenswood Big Allis Power Plant is no longer owned by Keyspan but by Transcanada. Here is their contact info. Let them know what you think.
Previous posts described sirens going off, water cannons spraying and black billowing smoke blasting from Big Allis.
UPDATE 12:30 PM - Here's a You Tube video of an incident at the power plant from February 2011.
According to the video maker:
The ConED plant just east of Roosevelt Island in Queens just went nuts making this LOUD electrical arc noise... A little scary even the boats left the area...Again, the incident shown in the video did not happen this morning but in February 2011 and it is not a Con Ed power plant but Transcanada.
It's over now, but WTF? did something happen? Accidents? Deaths? Incompetence?
UPDATE 12/6 - Roosevelt Island elected officials respond here.
14 comments :
This is not the first time it happened. I recall two other times over the last couple of years that Alice vented steam. Not as early in the morning as today, though. One time (probably this year spring) when I walked over the RI bridge I also heard all kinds of alarm sounds going off. I am a bit worried about the operations of this plant. I know it's not going to explode nor would venting steam harm the environment but it is a bit nerve wrecking nonetheless.
Steam is just gas. Happens to all of us.
Oh come on, worried about operations of this plant? If it weren't venting from there then I'd be worried. It's normal steam plant operation, could be anything. Probably just needed to vent a pressure vessel for maintenance.
Steam is released everyday. Obviously, this morning's venting of hot steam wasn't "business as usual" at all (NY1 even mentioned a transformer might have been involved). It sounded like a jet was taking off from Ravenswood Generating Station. No kidding. The level of that noise reached 94dB SPL (Sound Pressure Level), on the West side of the island. I attached the figure measured at 6:39AM. I live on this island for 25 years and I don't remember another steam release of this intensity, at any time of the day.
In the light of some other recent events concerning the plant (and lack of subsequent info about actual causes - I understand that too much info is not very healthy), all I can hope is that our safety is being really and seriously taken care of by all responsible factors...
When it's 6am and you have small kids that don't sleep well in general it kind of stinks that this happened. Considering the time of the day and how rare this kind of thing happens it definitely was something out of the ordinary. As I said, I am not worried that it could do any harm. It just sucks to have this kind of thing in our backyard.
Has there been a statement by Transcanada indicating whether this was scheduled, emergency or spontaneous? I woke up at 6:13 am. If it was scheduled, please pick a decent hour in the future.
"riradu" says 94 dB SPL on the west side of the Island. That's about 125 dB at the plant. What allows any entity to create that much noise? For comparison: 130 dB is threshold of pain, 120 dB is hearing loss, 100 dB is a jack hammer at 3 feet, see "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure_level#Examples_of_sound_pressure_and_sound_pressure_levels".
Note: My 125 dB number is guestimated by 94 dB being reported at 700 feet away, the closest reporting from the "west side" of the Island, and comparing it to the sound pressure level 20 feet away (what a plant operator might experience).
"riradu" can you calculate how far you were from the steam plant? Go to google maps and estimate with the distance scale. This would better help us calibrate the loudness at the plant.
I recall other times with steam releases in the middle of the night. When asked, they said it was a steam pressure release and there was nothing to worry about. If it can't wait until morning, then some urgent/emergency level was reached, which is worrisome.
I'll investigate further after I get the distance from "riradu".
Those of us who live in the courtyard bldgs are constantly assaulted by noise beginning in the evening and lasting all night. Calls to 311 are useless. This a major health hazard and would definitely be classified as noise pollution. What happened Monday morning was absolutely not "harmless" as RIOC and Trans Canada describe it. It was ear shattering and terrifying. The fact that this was a planned release and they weren't required to make the surrounding communities aware that this was going to happen is insanity. It is lunacy that the OEM didn't measure decibel levels and issue fines and warnings. Think about it - ice cream trucks are under noise restrictions regarding the little tune they play and this plant can emit a noise that can be heard for miles at 5:30am and nothing is done?? I'm hoping that the dangerous noise levels last night may unify RI residents to take action. I've contacted Scott Stringers office and spoken with Jennifer Ashley who seems to comprehend our plight and willing to assist in defining noise guidelines regarding time, decibel levels etc. She requested for RI residents to contact her via email to relay their experiences with noise from the plant. Her email address is jashley@manhattanbp.orgLet's take this opportunity to ensure a healthy RI for everyone.
I agree with this. If this was indeed planned I am very sure they had to report this to the city in some way in advance. And then the city would have sent out notifications to us that something noisy will happen. I get those texts all the time about missing people, flyovers by planes and helicopters, flooded streets, etc. Nothing about what happened Monday morning.
If it was planned and they were required to notify the city but failed to do so I sure hope TransCanada will be fined. If it was unplanned I'd like to know what happened and what is being done so it will not happen again. Common sense?
Noise is a given from Alice. The scrubber noise is wonderful, too. What the utility doesn't publicize is the emissions - despite the tall stacks, how much pollution are we receiving? Even though the wind generally blows west to east, are we in a high-pollution area? If so, is there an epidemiological correlation with elevated lung disease/cancer incidence in our area? If so, this is a problem that we should all be concerned about. RI is no longer a "prison" or "quarantine" island - populated with either social or medical outcasts. It is now built up and highly populated. Did the State of NY take into account the fact that a large power plant is directly across the E. channel of the E. River when they decided to develop RI? To the E. of Ravenswood is a largely industrial area - without a large buildup of population. This is the "downwind" side to be sure, but the wind is not always blowing west to east. Can we have permanent air pollution monitors installed on RI to continually check the air quality, now that the island is built up. If air quality is a problem, then the only answer is for the utility to reconfigure their grid and slowly take Ravenswood offline. There are not many purely industrial areas left in NYC so the problem will be where to situate another power plant within the 5 boroughs. If anything, all the power plants within the 5 boroughs should go since they are located within a densely populated area.
420m to the place where I've seen the steam jet.
That means it was 131 dB at the plant (20 feet away). Yikes, past the threshold of pain!
Another evening of excessive noise coming from Ravenswood power plant. Started @ 10pm & will likely go on all night long. WHERE ARE OUR POLITICIANS???
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