Published: February 22, 2008 10:29 pm      

TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Leaders clearing the smoke on NRG

Much has been said and written about NRG’s proposed clean-coal plant, but a group of local leaders are trying to get the whole picture before the project falls by the wayside.

An ad-hoc committee organized jointly by the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District and the Town of Tonawanda Development Corp. met for the first time Friday to trade questions about the snags to the project and establish a network for getting those questions answered in a timely fashion.

The technical nature of the project and various ways of arriving at cost estimates has led to some inaccurate information being circulated due to misunderstandings between agencies, said Bob Dimmig, director of the Town of Tonawanda Development Corporation.

Early in the meeting Assemblyman Robin Schimminger vehemently demanded to know who School Board President Melissa Brinson was relying on for information that she gave the Ken-Ton Bee suggesting Gov. Eliot Spitzer supports the Huntley plan. Schimminger had heard of no such support, he said.

“The purpose of this group is to get good, solid information,” Schimminger said. “So can you say who told you that?”

Brinson was hesitant to get into specifics at the meeting, but later disclosed that she received the information from Kevin Long, assistant business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 97.

Long said he and other members of the union discussed several energy projects with Spitzer before and after the 2006 election, including the Huntley clean-coal facility.

“Last labor day at the Governor’s Mansion in Albany he reaffirmed that support to other Local 97 officials,” Long said. “He said if anything had to be done, to let him know.”

The crux of the issue is reducing costs of the new carbon sequestration technology. NRG representatives have stated that the price gap is $400 million, or 20 percent of the total $2 million price tag. The Memorandum of understanding that former Gov. George Pataki entered into with NRG in December 2006 requires the cost problems to be solved before July. Two ideas are being thrown around to bridge that gap, said Legislator Michele Iannello, D-Kenmore.

“One would be to take the 20 year memorandum of understanding and make it a 30 year,” Iannello said. “Just like when buying a house, if you have 30 years to pay instead of 20 you would be paying less each payment but over a longer period of time. Another would be to use the New York Power Authority’s bond rating to secure a better rate for NRG.”

NYPA has offered similar bonding for projects in New York City. Indiana has split the construction of a similar plant from the carbon sequestration technology inside and opted to only pay for the new technology. Midwestern states, which rely much more heavily on coal power, are ahead of the curve with clean coal plants, Dimmig said. This type of research, in addition to the day-to-day meetings about the Huntley site, might provide solutions that will keep Tonawanda from reinventing the wheel, said Legislator Lynn Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda.

The first meeting was primarily to set up a framework for communication and figure out which questions people need answered. Legislator Thomas Loughran, D-Amherst, said he would like to see the committee expanded to include representatives of the county executive’s office and senate offices to put more weight on the governor to get things moving.

Meetings are on-going between NRG and the governor’s office, but what is being accomplished at those meetings is unclear and is leaving local governments wondering. That will complicate things for the school district, county and town, all of which rely on portions of Huntley’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes payments for a percentage of their budgets. The school district alone receives $7 million each year, which amounts to 15 percent of the district’s budget, said Superintendent Mark Mondanaro.

Laura Monte, Spitzer’s regional representative, said she would be taking the committee’s questions and concerns to the governor and get whatever information she could for the group.

“I realized there’s a disconnect with Albany and I’d be happy to bridge that gap where possible,” Monte said. “I don’t think we can overstate the importance of this project.”

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.