Removing two smokestacks at the former NRG power plant in Dunkirk has been planned for quite some time.

The Dunkirk stacks are structurally sound, according to Dave Schrader, an NRG spokesman, but the company is removing the smaller smokestacks because some of the steel smokestacks have cracked in other cold weather areas.

Seeing cranes on the Lake Erie shoreline is a reminder that there’s little productive happening at NRG right now — and that our area is no closer to finding a new use for the former NRG plant than it was four years ago.

In March, city officials were told the total demolition costs for the former NRG Energy plant in Dunkirk are estimated to be $12 million with total abatement costs expected to be between $3 and $6 million, according to a Bergmann Associates’ feasibility study of the site released to the public. Remediating the site could cost around $20 million.

Repowering, offshore wind and microgrid development aren’t likely because of a lack of political will. Some sort of industrial development makes some sense — but, as the removal of the smokestacks reminds us, there is a lot of work to be done before a new future dawns on the NRG Dunkirk facility.