ENSR International Assists Besicorp-Empire with Empire State Newsprint Project

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For Immediate Release

ENSR International Assists Besicorp-Empire with Empire State Newsprint Project

New Facility Would Combine Paper Recycling and Power Generation

MASSACHUSETTS, WESTFORD, Jun. 22 -/E-Wire/-- ENSR International, a leading environmental consulting firm, is assisting Besicorp-Empire Development Company, LLC with comprehensive air, water and environmental services required to obtain Federal, New York State and local permits and approvals for the proposed Empire State Newsprint Project (ESNP). The ESNP, a $1 billion, fully-integrated facility consisting of a recycled-newsprint manufacturing plant and a combined-cycle cogeneration plant, is proposed at a former chemical manufacturing plant location along the Hudson River in upstate New York (City of Rensselaer).

The completed ESNP will produce 100% recycled newsprint from waste newspapers and magazines. The cogeneration plant will supply steam and electricity to the newsprint plant as well as electricity for the outside wholesale market. Thus, this project will benefit newsprint publishers in the Northeast with available low-cost newsprint and New York consumers with clean, competitively priced electricity. In addition, it will result in productive redeployment of an inactive industrial site.

"The ENSR team -- with specialists in air quality, meteorology, water quality, aquatic ecology, geology, seismology, noise, vegetation/terrestrial ecology, visual impact/aesthetics, socioeconomic/land planning studies and technical analyses -- is working toward efficient completion of this complex permitting/approval process," says Frederick Pope, ENSR's Project Manager.

"ESNP is a unique situation," says Pope. "This integrated facility actually consists of a 504 MW (nominal) power plant and a 330,000 metric ton per year newsprint recycling plant. The ESNP is subject to separate statutory review processes, Article X of the New York State Public Service Law and the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Fortunately, New York State combined the approval processes into one framework specifically formulated for ESNP. In addition, a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit and a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit will be filed and other approvals from the Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Rensselaer will be sought."

The permitting/approvals phase is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2002, with construction targeted for the fourth quarter 2002, and commencement of operations in mid-2004.

Besicorp-Empire Development Company, LLC is a joint venture between Besicorp Development, Inc. and Empire State Newsprint, LLC. Besicorp Development, Inc. specializes in the development of environmentally sound independent power projects.

ENSR International (www.ensr.com) is a worldwide environmental services company with over 33 years of experience serving leading industrial and commercial companies, municipalities and government agencies. A leading supplier to the energy, petroleum, aerospace, chemical, transportation, forest products, automotive and manufacturing industries, ENSR International has 60 worldwide offices including 40 in the U.S. ENSR's comprehensive services include air and water quality consulting and engineering, capital project permitting, remediation and regulatory closure, risk assessment, process and facility engineering, due diligence and environmental health and safety management.

For more information about ENSR International, contact John Petraglia, Marketing/ Communications Manager in Westford, MA at [REDACTED-PHONE].

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