Tom Reed
WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) is continuing to bang the drum for natural gas use by pointing to the positive economic impact it would have in his 23rd Congressional District.
During his weekly conference call with media, Reed talked about the proposal to retrofit two coal-burning power plants in his district to power plants that instead rely on natural gas. One of those plants is the NRG plant in Dunkirk.
During the Tuesday media conference call, the Corning Republican called the proposal good news for his constituents.
“The Report and the study that came with the application for each proposal showed dramatic potential job growth as a result of the conversion to natural gas,” Reed explained. “In Dunkirk we’re talking almost 300 jobs for construction alone and almost 2,000 new jobs as a result of repowering that plan with natural gas and the resulting lower utility rates that it’s going to provide to manufacturers and other folks in the area.”
Reed also pointed to the impact the retrofitting would have on the local tax base, saying that currently 42 percent of the local property taxes for the Dunkirk school district and the city are paid for by NRG.
The effort to retrofit both the facility in Dunkirk and the other – located in the Tompkins County community of Lansing – is being spearheaded by the state, with funding for the project earmarked in the recently approved state budget. And while Reed added that there are no guarantees in life, it still appears that the retrofitting project will be moving forward.
“From my understanding, the applications are being made, all the plans are coming together to see these conversions occur. But as you know in life, you can’t guarantee anything until the actual buttons are pushed, but all indications that we’re hearing in regards to these two facilities is that they are on the right track and they are developing in a very positive fashion.”
Also at issue is where the source of the natural gas to feed the plants will come from. Reed says that these projects shows there is a demand for natural gas and its time New York State begins to allow the practice of horizontal hydrofracking to take place.
“When we can see the benefits of this conversion from coal to natural gas, occurring right in our back yard and you see this type of economic data and you also recognize that switching from coal to natural gas is a much cleaner fuel source for power generation. To me it represents an opportunity that New York, with the delay that we’re seeing at the state level, is losing out on.”
Reed said that the state current stance on fracking has only added to the negative reputation it has had with businesses and industries. New York State has a hydrofracking moratorium in place as environmental and health officials continue to collect and review data and the safety of the practice. At last word, the moratorium will remain in place until at least 2014.
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