Our State Senator, county officials and others have advocated that the old NRG power plant in Dunkirk be reopened as a natural gas/electric plant. It is a proposal that should be considered.

I can still remember the day when then Governor Andrew Cuomo went to Dunkirk and promised a big crowd that the plant would be converted from coal to natural gas…a plan that never got off the ground.

What you see now, still looming over the Dunkirk harbor, is the shell of the former coal/electric plant. It is doubtful that a natural gas plant would need be housed in such a big structure…but these are matters that could be resolved. What is important is that the basic infrastructure of transmission, rights-of-way and a connection to the grid are still available.

A preliminary study was also done around the time of Cuomo’s visit confirming that sufficient supplies of natural gas could be arranged by National Fuel Gas including a possible connection to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that transits the northern part of Chautauqua County.

There has also been support given to the idea of converting the Dunkirk site into a nuclear power plant location. I support nuclear power generation, but, unless things change, this would likely be a long-term project–not one which would address the immediate needs of beefing up the New York State power grid.

The whole issue relative to the Dunkirk power plant brings to the forefront the reality that quickly converting everything to non-fossil fuel is just not possible. There needs to be a balanced approach toward energy which takes into consideration its cost to the consuming public.

At a minimum, the Public Service Commission, or a state agency, should conduct a study to determine whether the Dunkirk site could be used again in some way. Once it is all torn down, leveled and everything removed…it will be too late.

My only cautionary note in all of this is that false promises and false hopes should not be given again to the residents of the City of Dunkirk. They have had enough of that.

Even if a new natural gas generated electric plant is built, we will never be returning to the days when the electric plant paid about half the property taxes in Dunkirk. Those days are over.

There would undoubtedly be a tax or payment in lieu of taxes agreement if such a facility were built, which would help fund local government. Yet, citizens should not be led to believe that this would solve all of the financial problems that Dunkirk is experiencing. Dealing with those issues is another matter altogether.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.