1-14 



Siting and Related Studies 



Earliest serious consideration of the New Haven Harbor envi- 

 rons as a site for a potential electric generating station was begun by 

 Northeast Utilities Company in the mid-1960 ' s ; and evaluation of pos- 

 sible sites adjacent to the harbor from an environmental standpoint was 

 made in 1957 (TRC, 1967) . The United Illuminating Company pursued this 

 possibility further, and in 1970, environmental and design engineering 

 studies were begun for a 400-MW, oil-fired generating station proposed 

 for the present site; this area, then owned by UI , was formerly the 

 Connecticut Coke Company. 



Environmental studies commenced with studies of the harbor's 

 macroalgae communities (Prince and Melville, 1970) and plankton surveys 

 (Raytheon, 1970) . These early studies led to a multidisciplinary base- 

 line study executed from June 1970 through April 1971 (Raytheon, 1971a, 

 1971b, 1971c) . Data from these studies were used for the preparation of 

 an Environmental Report (EBASCO, 1971b) and were incorporated into the 

 Draft Environmental Statement (Army Corps of Engineers, 1971) which 

 served as a basis for subsequent environmental monitoring studies. The 

 DES was duly circulated to interested citizens, citizens' groups and 

 agencies for comments, which were received and responded to, and the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a Final Environmental Statement in 

 compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1972 on June 

 15, 1973 (Army Corps of Engineers, 1973b). 



Studies to determine the hydrodynamic characteristics of the 

 harbor and to model the proposed discharge of condenser cooling water 

 were conducted by Ebasco Services in 1970 and 1971. Results of these 

 studies and model studies (University of Florida, 1972) confirmed the 

 feasibility of utilizing once-through cooling in the proposed generating 

 station, and provided design specifications for the discharge structure. 



Niimerous studies were conducted for UI on anticipated and 

 realized impacts of construction of New Haven Harbor Station facilities. 



