What Was That Brown Substance Oozing Into East River From Long Island City Big Allis Ravenswood Power Plant Across From Roosevelt Island - And What Is That Awful Noise Plaguing Residents At All Times Of Day?

Last Friday afternoon, June 28, a Roosevelt Island resident spotted a brown substance, shown in video below, oozing into the East River next to the Big Allis Ravenswood Power Generating Plant in Long Island City and asked:

What are they LEAKING into the East River??

Don't know what it is, but am asking.

Another Roosevelt Island resident who lives in Roosevelt Landings reports on constant loud noises coming from the

Big Allis Power Plant :

... there is an awful noise that has plagued Eastwood residents for several months. The big problem is not only that it's loud and disturbing, but that it's intermittent. There is no regularity to it. It can wake you up in the middle of the night. It can happen at any time during the day. It can be repetitive, within seconds, or it can take place once and not be heard for several hours.

It's coming from the power plant. It sounds like something is shorting, like a live wire has become detached.

t’s an everyday, multiple times per day occurrence. It’s not the steam thing. It’s more like a jolt of electricity.

which others have confirmed:

• "I hear it almost every night and sometimes wee hours of the morning! It sounds like a warning drill!"
• "Yes I hear it all during the day and night. It's very disturbing especially at night when the noise wakes you out of your sleep."
• " I hear it almost every night and sometimes wee hours of the morning! It sounds like a warning drill!"
• "Sometimes there are lots of helicopters or small planes flying over the island or the river, I used to hear it but I’ve become so used to it I don’t anymore. Same way the sounds coming from the generating plant across the river. Tuned out."

The Big Allis Ravenswood Power Plant is owned by LS Power, having purchased the 1.1 million square foot Long Island City facility in 2017 from TransCanada for $167 million according to The Real Deal.

According to LS Power:

Ravenswood (Queens, New York) – 2,480 megawatts, multiple-unit generating natural gas facility using dual fuel-capable steam turbine, combined-cycle and combustion turbine.

More info on history of Big Allis Ravenswood Power station here.

Will update with more info. Stay tuned

UPDATE 8:15 - In response to my inquiry a Ravenswood spokesperson replied:

What the resident saw last Friday was rust-colored water being flushed from pipes as part of a scheduled test of the fire protection system at Ravenswood. This test is mandated by the FDNY, and we were pretesting the system. The DEC (Department of Environmental Control) were on site during the test, there were no safety or environmental issues, and the test was conducted in accordance with all permits and regulations. The test went extremely smoothly and safely.

As for noise, there was nothing at the plant that happened that we know of to cause it. May we ask that if residents hear any noise from the plant, they let us know the date and specific time, and we will investigate quickly, and respond back to them? Thank you.“

UPDATE 7/3:

Just heard it again at 3:54 am

— Dave (@Dave57643578) July 3, 2019

UPDATE 4:34 PM: In response to above Tweet, the Ravenswood Spokesperson inquired and reports:

As best as we can tell, the noise came from a vacuum truck, which can be noisy. This is not frequent, but we have now advised the contractor that this work should only be performed during daylight hours going forward.

This specific information is very helpful for us to fix these situations. We appreciate the opportunity to address them.

UPDATE 7/4 - Another resident reported hearing noise last night.

just heard it again at 9:13pm, 9:15pm, 10:15pm and 10:18pm...

— shio shima (@nf877877) July 4, 2019