As of July 11th, 2016 the Northport Power Station is being required by the NYS DEC to follow a new State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit that demands greater regulations to protect aquatic life in the Long Island Sound.
Under this new SPDES permit the DEC expects to reduce harm to aquatic life by 85%. The Northport Power Station is located on the North Shore of Long Island in Suffolk County and has four active natural gas/oil fired steam-electric generating units that have an electric generation capacity of 1,452 megawatts. Their current permit allows them to extract over 900 million gallons of cooling water each day.
Basil Seggos a DEC commissioner reported that National Grid will be updating the Northport Power Station in order to continue producing the power Suffolk County needs but at the same time reduce the amount of fish and other aquatic species that are harmed. This seems to be best solution that is the right balance for the people, businesses and marine ecosystems.
If you would like to read more about this topic, please visit the DEC website here:
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/NYSDEC/bulletins/155545c