Photo by M.J. Stafford From left, State Sen. George Borrello, Congressman Nick Langworthy, and State Assemblyman Andrew Molitor pose at the Conservation Club in Dunkirk Friday.

Advocacy of repowering Dunkirk’s NRG plant with natural gas brought U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, state Sen. George Borrello and State Assemblyman Andrew Molitor to the Conservation Club on Friday morning.

The trio of Republicans criticized Democrats’ energy policies: the wind, solar and nuclear energy priorities of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and her administration, along with a plan advocated by Dunkirk Mayor Kate Wdowiasz to repower NRG with nuclear power. NRG, shut down for a decade now, loomed in the background as the politicians spoke on the Con Club patio.

“The energy crisis we’re facing in New York cannot be ignored any longer. … Millions of New Yorkers cannot afford their home energy bills thanks to the extreme policies of Gov. Hochul and legislative Democrats,” Langworthy said.

He added, “You cannot subtract dependable energy from the grid while demanding its surge at the same time, and expect costs to go down and reliability to improve. It’s just common sense. You need more supply, you need more electricity on the grid.

“Natural gas is not the enemy. It’s the bridge to our energy future. It’s reliable, it’s accessible, it’s abundant, and it’s significantly cleaner than legacy fossil fuels. It’s a literal lifeline in a cold, brutal winter like we’re having now.”

He called nuclear energy “a strong long term option, and I support us going into the nuclear power business in New York. We need nuclear power plants, The governor’s right, we need one — we probably need six. But the problem is, the runway is long. We have to decide on generation technology. From conception to reality, we’re looking at least a decade, and that’s an optimistic vision.”

However, Langworthy continued, “We can’t afford to wait 10, 15, 20 years for new plants to come online while our grid is under strain right now. … That’s why we support converting this shuttered Dunkirk plant, this monument to bad policy. Repower NRG with natural gas. It can be done! It takes the will of the governor, it takes the will of the legislature, it certainly will take the cooperation of the federal government, which I am completely prepared to dig in and help in any way shape or form.”

Borrello recalled when, as a Chautauqua County Legislator in 2013, “we all packed ourselves into the hotel down the street so that Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo could come here and tell us how we were going to repower this plant. It was going to transform from coal to natural gas and it was going to continue to generate power for generations to come.

“But then he succumbed to the radical left — the New York City-based folks in the state legislature who refused to allow this to happen.”

Borrello soon noted Dunkirk’s financial crisis. “This plant used to give $10 million in tax revenue, now it’s only a couple hundred thousand bucks. Not only have we hamstrung our ability to create energy, we have taken this city and put it in a financial crisis, primarily because of bad policy out of Albany.”

Borrello said he thinks Hochul understands “wind and solar isn’t going to cut it here in New York State, (and) we need other alternatives. But she doesn’t have the political will, the spine, to stand up to the radicals in the state legislature.”

Meanwhile, “nuclear power is decades away. The solution is right behind us, folks. I was county executive here in Chautauqua County when we commissioned a study: We could get this power plant up and running in 18 months to two years with clean, natural gas.”

Molitor expressed frustration that while neighbors such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Canada “harvest natural gas and use it for safe, clean and realizable energy generation, New York virtue signals to the world that it won’t use its abundant resources while quietly importing coal power and natural gas from far away.”

The closure of power plants such as Dunkirk’s has caused energy prices to soar across the state, he added.

“With all the money we spend in New York on ridiculous things, you would think that affordable energy for New Yorkers would be a priority,” Molitor concluded. “Let’s make it happen now. We’re calling on you, Gov. Hochul, to make this happen.”