NYPA CEO Tours Ruined Nature Center

MASSENA - The New York Power Authority will be working with the state's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation over the coming months to decide what to do about a Robert Moses State Park Nature Center building destroyed by fire Tuesday.

The building may be reconstructed on the same site or relocated closer to the NYPA Visitor's Center, which already gets a substantial amount of traffic, according to NYPA President and CEO Richard M. Kessel.

Mr. Kessel toured the ruined building Thursday and received a full report from state and local fire investigators and park officials.

The investigators showed the NYPA leader the section of the building most damaged by the blaze. Once wood shop and paint storage area, that end of the 1950's vintage steel structure is now a mangled mess of debris which the officials said was unsalvageable.

The other end of the building, which housed administrative offices and the New York State Park Police, sustained considerable smoke and water damage, but rehabilitation may be possible, Mr. Kessel was told.

A fire wall prevented the adjacent Nature Center itself from falling victim to the blaze, though the center will be closed and its programs canceled until further notice.

St. Lawrence County fire investigators began the initial probe into the fire's origins, but later turned the case over to state investigators, who have been at the park this week attempting to re-create the scene. During his visit, Mr. Kessel spoke with one of the senior fire investigators from the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, James Ryan, and fire dog Shadow, a silver Labrador who specializes in sniffing out accelerants that cause or contribute to fires. The cause of the fire has not officially been released, though investigators have determined it was an accident.

"It's not the worst fire I've seen, but it's pretty serious," Mr. Ryan said. "Any time a state piece of property gets damaged like this, especially in these fiscal times, it's a sad thing." While there has been much discussion lately about which state parks will remain operational during the current budget crisis, NYPA officials pointed out that their federal operating license requires they continue to contribute toward keeping the Robert Moses and Coles Creek State Parks open. Neither of those parks has made Governor David A. Paterson's list of proposed facility closures, but Mr. Kessel said he and his staff will ensure that continues to be the case.

Mr. Kessel was also in Massena Thursday to present the Local Government Task Force with a check for $171,912 in supplemental payments to be divided among the local governments and school districts included in the 2003 relicensing settlement. The funds came in addition to this year's annual $2 million relicensing payment.

Above-average water flows in the St. Lawrence River in 2009 yielded higher-than-anticipated generation at the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project, which produced more than 7.17 million megawatt hours last year. Any time the Massena facility generates more than 7 million megawatt hours in a year, NYPA is obligated to make a supplemental payment to local communities, which includes the villages of Massena and Waddington; the towns of Massena, Louisville and Waddington; the Massena and Madrid-Waddington school districts and St. Lawrence County.

"This generating facility is of fundamental importance to the North Country, with the relicensing of the project further enhancing the value that facility brings to the region" Mr. Kessel said. Local Government Task Force Chairman Robert O. McNeil said the extra funding will help the villages, towns and school districts and the county to provide essential services to taxpayers, just as the $2 million annual NYPA payments already do.