OBSERVER File Photo NRG officially announced Wednesday its plans to forgo repowering the Dunkirk power plant from coal to natural gas.

NRG officially announced Wednesday its plans to forgo repowering the Dunkirk power plant from coal to natural gas. For local officials, it came as a disappointment following years of work to keep the project on track.

State Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean, was the first public official to relay extreme disappointment over NRG electing not to proceed as information was becoming clearer regarding interconnect fee costs. Via a statement, Young notes that NRG stuck a dagger in the heart of the community after people rallied consistently on behalf of the company.

“By making this decision at this juncture, it is apparent that NRG has been disingenuous about their intentions,” Young said. “They bailed out before they had all of the information. They have a lot of excuses, but those ring hollow and the onus rests squarely on them. They are blaming the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), but they always have known full well the process that is required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the NYISO.”

Young acknowledges that the interconnect fee that NRG says would exceed $100 million was a worst case scenario. The NYISO estimated interconnect costs between $5 million and $45 million.

“If they had waited just a couple of days, they would have had more information,” she said. “It is a fact that interconnect costs decline significantly as other developers drop out of the process. Instead of waiting to see which projects were left and trying to work with us, NRG decided to turn their backs on the community and the state.”

Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, said Young and he met with NYISO weeks ago to discuss minimizing NRG’s cost to restart the plant. At that time, Goodell said NYISO officials agreed to seek every reasonable option to accommodate NRG.

“I’m deeply disappointed in the decision by NRG because all the elected officials in the community put a tremendous amount of time and effort in support of this company with numerous meetings with state and local officials, union representatives, community members, the Public Service Commission and the governor’s staff,” he said.

Mayor Willie Rosas said in statement that he’s working with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his staff, Young and Goodell to ensure mitigation aid for the closing of the NRG plant continues and is extended to prevent any additional financial burden to city taxpayers. Rosas said the city’s looking to meet with state elected officials to evaluate potential options for redevelopment of the waterfront property.

“I know that our New York State Senator, Cathy Young, has worked tirelessly toward the repowering of NRG, and I am grateful for her efforts,” Rosas said. “However, although this appears to be a setback for area, it is also important to remember that opportunities can often come from bad happenings, and that is what I and my team will be working to achieve.”

County Executive George Borrello expressed his dismay over NRG’s failure to keep their word on the repowering. But he also criticized NYISO over its rhetoric in promoting renewable energy — something he said isn’t serving the people of Chautauqua County and the state.

“When you look at the fact they need to keep rates stable, we’ve seen unprecedented rate spikes,” he said. “They need to re-examine their push for renewable energy because in the end it has to be backed up by a reliable source. It’s clear we need a base load supplier, and having a natural gas plant in Dunkirk makes sense since we have a large natural gas supply in Chautauqua County. We need NYISO to support the idea of a natural gas power plant.”