Power Crisis In the Northeast? Coal supplies in the northeast may be running critically low as a result of a combination of high temperatures and the Conrail breakup. In what may be the tip of the iceberg, AES NY L.L.C. has filed a complaint with the Surface Transportation Board alleging that Norfolk Southern is unable to supply its recently acquired New York State coal-fired power plants. NS and CSX divided up the Conrail system. > AES is reporting serious problems at several of its New York plants. Particularly hard hit are Greenridge, Westover, and Jennison plants, all formerly owned by New York State E&G, that get the bulk of their coal from western Pennsylvania. > As of the time of the complaint Jennison had already run out of coal, apparently due to a lack of cooperation between NS and delivering carrier Canadian Pacific Railway, which serves the plant via a NS trackage agreement. An en-route coal train had been held up for roughly a week. > Greenridge has seen its stockpile plummet from roughly 35,000 tons of coal to 7,500 tons. According to AES, Greenridge has received only half of the coal it would normally receive during this period. Plus NS's "switching service to the plant has been considerably less efficient than was Conrail's, including prolonged failures to pull empties from the plant," writes AES. NS service failures at the plant have in turn led to a shortage of cars at the mines, causing mine operators to cancel two trains for lack of cars. > With only a three to four day supply of coal on the ground, Westover is in equally desperate straits. "Quite simply, service is not being provided," AES says. Among NS's more notable goofs at Westover was the delivery of a coal train using the wrong type of cars -- rotary dump instead of bottom dump -- which the plant could not unload. > According to AES, "These service failures are not only an immediate problem, but also create the likelihood of plant shutdowns during the winter ahead. Greenridge and Westover, in particular, must increase their coal inventory on hand during the July to December period in order to have sufficient coal on hand to survive unloading difficulties and other service problems brought on by sub-freezing weather." > "We never thought it would be harder to get coal in New York than in Kazakhstan," complains an AES source. AES operates one of the world's largest power plants in Kazakhstan. > According to several sources in the region, AES is not alone. Metropolitan Edison, Northeast Utilities, Pennsylvania Power and Light, and Potomac Electric Power have all had "serious" to "severe" delivery problems. Moreover, the causes of NS's service problems seem to change from week to week. "I've been told the problems are car availability, power unavailability, crew availability, and computer problems," one source says, adding "Norfolk Southern is still in the woods." > > David E. Wojick, Ph.D., P.E. http://www.albertaweb.com/year2000/docs/doc3401.html