Chautauqua County
After a year-long planning process, seven possible re-uses for the former NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk were presented to the public Tuesday evening, but more are possible.
Originally known as the Niagara Mohawk Power Plant, the facility operated from the 1950s until 2015. Decommissioning began last year.
Officials said Dunkirk took a huge hit when it closed, losing about 40% of its tax base and 150 well-paying jobs at its peak. They are now looking at how to bring back the site as a sustainable economic driver that would revitalize the waterfront region once again.
"It was a massive facility. That was the hardest part of it," Chautauqua County Executive P.J. Wendel told WBFO. "That says a lot to the disparity of what happened. There was never a decommissioning plan, there was never an intent that this plant would be mothballed. You know, the governor has his options of trying to get away from fossil fuels, but we know quite honestly that solar and wind are not gonna generate the power we need, whether it's the Western New York economy or statewide or nationally. There's gonna have to be some reliance on fossil."