Floating, 6-Story Power Plant Could Be Built Off Brooklyn Shore

Pictured: The Wallabout Channel. Image via Google Maps

NAVY YARD, BROOKLYN — The Army Corps of Engineers will host a public hearing on a proposal to build a floating, six-story power plant in the Wallabout Channel, directly adjacent to Williamsburg and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Corps spokesman Hector Mosley said Thursday that the time and location of the hearing haven't been set.

Mosley said that SEF Industries, the company behind the project, has 30 days to respond to public comments on the proposal received by the Corps. The comment period ended on April 30.

After that, the Corps may issue its own response to the commentary, Mosley said, and would subsequently schedule the public hearing. The power plan can’t be constructed without the Corps’ approval.

An SEF Industries spokesman, Dr. Donald Bronn, did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

As reported by Brooklyn Paper, this is the second time the company has eyed the Wallabout Channel as a location for its plant.

In 2003, a group named Stop the Barge successfully sued to prevent the project’s construction, the paper reports.

According to Brownstoner, SEF has argued that the natural gas plant would provide needed power in the event of a grid outage.

The site notes that the proposed plant would generate 79 megawatts of power, “just below the 80-megawatt threshold that would trigger a lengthy state environmental approval process for the plant.”