Update 6:15 p.m. – Local elected officials from four municipalities, including Ithaca, Dryden, Ulysses and Caroline, will convene at a press conference at 12 p.m. Tuesday at Ithaca Town Hall to express their opposition to the plant operator’s plan for repowering the plant with natural gas.
NYSEG continues to be at odds with the operators of the Cayuga Power Plant in Lansing, who want to re-fire the plant with natural gas.
On Friday, plant operators submitted their updated plans for repowering the plant. NYSEG has responded by saying that the plan is too risky, and comes at a high cost to its customers.
NYSEG has recommended upgrading transmission lines to meet the region’s energy needs.
Scott Waldman is a reporter with Capital New York who covers energy and the environment.
He says the latest developments show that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not interested in getting involved–and that doesn’t bode well for the plant’s future.
“I think most significantly is the absence of any sort of intervention from the Cuomo administration,” Waldman said in an interview Monday. “It shows that this is not a priority for them, and that they are going to let the clock run out on this issue.”
In December of 2013, Governor Cuomo announced an agreement that a power plant in Dunkirk would switch from coal to natural gas.
