The future of NRG’s Dunkirk plant is still uncertain.

All of us here in Chautauqua County realize that the path to repowering the NRG plant in Dunkirk has been very long and very challenging. But one positive aspect, throughout this whole ordeal, has been the truly united effort from everyone in our community.

We have set aside politics, and our differences, and have all worked together to move this task forward. From local elected officials all the way to the governor. From business leaders to labor unions. From teachers and administrators to every concerned citizen, we have banded together for nearly five years. On the front lines has been our amazing state Sen. Cathy Young, with the support of Assemblyman Andy Goodell, Congressman Tom Reed, Mayor Willie Rosas and many others. It has been an unprecedented and admirable show of solidarity.

But this past week, we were all taken by surprise by the actions of a rogue organization that most people in this state had previously never heard of, the New York Independent System Operator. It is a not-for-profit organization that has been given ultimate authority over New York’s electrical grid and electricity market. One of the primary missions of NYISO is to keep the electricity markets stable and keep prices competitive for New York ratepayers.

NYISO has failed in that mission, miserably. They have done so with intent to advance a somewhat hidden agenda.

According to chooseenergy.com, New York is in the top 10 for most expensive electricity rates in the nation. What’s worse is that most of the other states on that dubious list are states that do not have anywhere near the amount of energy resources we have in New York. We are one of the largest produces of hydroelectric power and we have an abundance of natural gas, especially here in Chautauqua County. Yet we pay some of the highest electricity bills in the nation and we must now import power from other states and Canada. So the question is, with all of the capacity we have to produce low-cost power, why do we pay so much for electricity?

If you pull back the curtain on this shadowy organization, the NYISO is not what it would like us to believe it is. The mission has shifted from protecting our power grid and power pricing to promoting a radical political agenda. This culminated with the shocking, last minute increase by NYISO of more than $100 million for NRG to tie back into the electrical grid at the Dunkirk plant. Despite the governor’s promise to allow the re-powering of the Dunkirk plant with clean-burning, abundant natural gas, the NYISO has other plans.

NYISO wants to eliminate fossil fuel plants in New York. That might sound like a good idea to some, until you really understand the true results. They also wish to intentionally increase the burden of businesses and families by taxing their way to higher electricity prices. Below is an excerpt from an article posted on the NYISO’s website showing their plan to unilaterally institute a so-called “carbon tax” without any legislative oversight or approval.

“For example, let’s think about a utility that needs 20 megawatts of electricity choosing between a solar farm and a natural gas power plant. The solar farm bids $15/MWh for its 20 megawatts of electricity and the natural gas plant bids $12/MWh — under our current system the utility purchases its 20 megawatts from the natural gas plant. Now let’s implement NYISO’s proposal and assume that the social cost of carbon of one MWh of natural gas-produced electricity is $4. In this scenario, the solar farm bids $15/MWh, the natural gas plant bids $16/MWh, the utility buys its electricity from the solar farm, and New York’s carbon emissions are lower.”

The carbon tax adds insult to injury since the example they use in that paragraph fails to mention that the solar farm is already heavily subsidized by the taxpayers to even get to that $15 rate to begin with.

This arbitrary and capricious increase for the interconnect cost for the NRG plant, which will be powered by natural gas, is part of their plan to advance a radically flawed environmental agenda. They plan to kill the repowering by making the interconnect too costly for NRG. It’s a cowardly attempt to place the blame on NRG for the actions of the NYISO.

The tragic irony of it all is that in order to reliably supply New York’s power needs, transmission lines are connecting New York’s power grid to some of the dirtiest, outdated coal-fired power plants in the nation. So, the end result will be dramatically higher power prices and a strategy that will actually increase the overall carbon footprint while destroying the needed ability for us to generate low cost, clean energy right here in Dunkirk. Anyone who thinks leaving this plant off-line will help the environment, or reduce our reliance on fossil fuel, is not looking at the complete picture.

This move by the NYISO is shameful. It’s all style and no substance. It is being done in the dark corners without the oversight of our legislature or even our governor. We need to shine the light of accountability on the NYISO. We cannot allow this senseless action to ruin our ability to re-power the NRG plant. We must all stick together and continue our united effort. The shadow government in New York must be reigned in.

George Borrello is the Chautauqua County executive.