DUNKIRK – U.S. Senator Charles Schumer was in Dunkirk on Tuesday to throw his support behind a plan to repower the NRG power plant. During an afternoon appearance, the state’s senior senator urged the state Public Service Commission to adopt a plan to re-power the coal-fired plant into a natural gas-powered plant. Schumer said that not only is it the cleaner energy option, but it also will protect taxpayers and create hundreds of construction jobs.
Currently, the PSC is evaluating two proposals regarding the future of the Dunkirk NRG Plant: an upgrade to National Grid transmission and delivery systems that would result in the plant coming offline or a complete re-powering of the plant to burn natural gas instead of coal.
Schumer argued that the plan for transmission upgrades is a short-term fix that would likely only resolve the reliability needs for a few years and would leave the local community in deep financial distress.
Schumer was joined by State Senator Catharine Young; Assemblyman Andy Goodell; County Executive Greg Edwards; Dunkirk Mayor AJ Dolce; Chamber of Commerce President Todd Tranum and other local elected officials and civic and labor leaders.
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