A faint odor hung in the air at the site off Moore's Lane as a small crowd of officials and village workers huddled in the cold to mark the beginning of project. Construction began as soon as the ceremony was over. It is expected to take about a year.
Mayor David Nyce hailed the launch, which was more than three years in the planning, as "a really, really big day for the village." He presented golden plungers adorned with miniature Greenport flags to Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-Southampton) and Deidrea Miller of the Environmental Facilities Corporation.
It was $4.3 million in EFC grant money under President Obama's stimulus plan that gave the project the boost it needed to become a reality.
For three years, Mr. Nyce lobbied Mr. Bishop to try to secure money for the Greenport project "and he came through," the mayor said.
The plant was built with federal Works Progress Administration money during the Depression in 1935 and now a new supply of federal stimulus money is allowing for its rehabilitation, Mr. Bishop said.
"That was the right thing to do then and this is the right thing to do now," the congressman said. "I'm delighted that I could be a small part of it."
Besides the stimulus money, the village is applying for a $1.1 million Clean Water, Clean Air grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; $400,000 in grant money from the Long Island Sound Restoration Program; $400,000 in a state community development grant; and $200,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Remaining costs are expected to be met by qualifying -- as a green energy project -- for interest-free loans, most all of which are expected to be forgiven, Mr. Nyce said.
In a written statement issued after the event, NYSERDA president and CEO Francis Murray said the upgrade would save the village $110,000 annually in energy costs.
"This is our identity," the mayor said about the village sewer and electric utilities. "It's incumbent on us to maintain this. This is our future."
The village is also undertaking repairs to its electric system.
The treatment plant almost got stopped by a dispute with the DEC, Mr. Nyce said. He was referring to DEC requirements that Greenport reduce nitrogen levels by 2014 to federal standards keyed to a Long Island Sound pollution study. But no technology exists to meet those standards and Mr. Nyce and former trustee David Corwin stood firm, finally getting an agreement in April 2009 that the village could move forward without additional upgrades.
The mayor paid tribute to Mr. Corwin for his role in exploring the possibility of grant money from the EFC.
Peter Scully of the DEC, who delivered the good news about the nitrogen levels to Mr. Nyce last year, was on hand Tuesday morning, representing Gov. David Paterson. While the DEC sometimes has an adversarial relationship with municipalities because of its regulatory role, he said, the Greenport project demonstrates that the agency can work effectively with them.
jlane@timesreview.com