Local residents and community leaders banned together to fight KeySpan's proposed power plant on Spagnoli Road in Melville. As a result of many community meetings and frustrated residents banning together, LIVES was formed - Long Island Voters for Environmental Safety. The mission of the group is to preserve the local quality of life by opposing the proposed 250 mega-watt power plant on Spagnoli Road.

The site for the proposed facility is located on Spagnoli Road in the Town of Huntington, a property owned by KeySpan. The proposed facility would occupy approximately four acres of the 31-acre site located on the south side of Spagnoli Road, approximately one-half mile west of Route 110. This area borders nearby Town of Oyster Bay residents.

LIVES co-officers Mark Neadel, Lisa Schrank, Linda Kastenholz, Jerry Williams, Artie Auster, and Brett and Shari Rosenblatt organized a meeting on Feb. 10 to alert residents and public officials about the newly formed group. Approximately 50 people attended last Sunday's meeting.

"We finally formed this group and I feel like I am doing something," said LIVES Public Information Officer Lisa Schrank, who is a resident of Old Bethpage.

Local politicians now need to work together with neighboring towns, namely the Towns of Huntington and Babylon and Oyster Bay. Present at the meeting were representatives from the Huntington Town Board, the Babylon Town Board, and representatives from Nassau County Legislator Judy Jacobs, Assemblyman David Sidikman, Senator Carl Marcellino, Town of Oyster Bay Councilwomen Bonnie Eisler and Mary McCaffery's offices.

"We would like to thank Mark Capadonno, from the Huntington Town Board, for his special support and for speaking at the recent meeting," said Schrank.

"The proposed 250-megawatt, gas-fired power plant violates Huntington Town Zoning and noise ordinances - ordinances that should not be overturned by the state," said Mark Neadel, LIVES Internal Information Officer. "We, the residents, should not be forced to live with the air pollution, noise and potential hazards presented by the storage of ammonia and the close proximity of the plant's 195-foot smokestack to Republic Airport. We have worked too hard to watch our quality of life and property values be destroyed by utilities that care more about their profits than the welfare of the residents."

South Huntington Alliance for Responsible Energy Development (SHARED) is against this project as they say that the proposed plant seriously violates Huntington's Town Zoning laws. "The proposed site is currently zoned for light industrial (I-2) and residential (R-40) use. Town zoning laws require heavy industrial (I-6) zoning to build a power plant. KeySpan has announced that it will bypass the Town of Huntington and try to get approval directly from the New York State Siting Board," according to a statement from SHARED, which is an alliance of area businesses opposing the proposed Spagnoli Road power plant whose efforts are supported by more than 400 residents living in the towns of Oyster Bay, Huntington and Babylon.

On Jan. 30 KeySpan Energy Development Corporation announced that it is seeking approval with the New York State Board of Electric Generation Siting and the Environment to construct the power plant. The Company filed an Application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need in accordance with Article X of the Public Service Law.

The Article X application addresses environmental and air and water quality aspects related to the siting of an energy-generating facility in New York State. KeySpan, in consultation with the New York State Departments of Public Service, Environmental Conservation, and Health, conducted various studies to identify and quantify the potential environmental impacts of the Facility. The filing begins a 60-day period for the Siting Board to determine whether the application is complete. Once a completeness determination is made, the Siting Board has one year to make a final decision on the application. Construction of the Facility is projected to take approximately 18 months.

"The Spagnoli Road Energy Center will provide economical, reliable, efficient and environmentally safe electricity to residents of Long Island," said Robert B. Catell, chairman and CEO of KeySpan. "With energy usage increasing on Long Island at approximately twice the statewide rate, this plant will help meet the need by providing power to 250,000 homes. KeySpan is committed to continue to work with the community and advise them of our plans for the project."

Although this project is in the Town of Huntington, nearby Town of Oyster Bay residents feel the construction would greatly impact them and are concerned about the proximity of their homes to the proposed plant.

In the upcoming months, the newly formed group plans to distribute more information to local residents, politicians, civic and local groups to alert them about LIVES and the goals of the group.

The proposed Spagnoli Road Power Plant will be the subject of a March 26 Town of Huntington meeting. The meeting will be held at Huntington's town hall, which is located at 100 Main Street in Huntington, at 7 p.m. All residents, including residents of the Town of Oyster Bay, are encouraged to attend the meeting.