While closing coal plants seems to be all the political rage today, I think it was a mistake to close down AES Somerset aka the Kintigh Generating Station.

• Its foolish for the state to become so dependent on natural gas power when its a commodity that can go up and down in price
• While some plants can also burn fuel oil, often the price of natural gas and oil are linked – a spike in one industry will effect the other
• It comes at the time the state is also retiring Indian Point Nuclear Plant, further making the state dependent on gas and oil
• The plan came online in 1984 after the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 and has pollution controls that exceed many of the older coal plants still operating in across the country
• To be sure, it was one of dirtest industrial plants in New York when it closed – because coal is a dirty nasty fuel
• It also has generated massive piles of waste – coal ash and gypsum-fly ash mix that is landfilled in massive mounds on site
• While it’s hard to defend building new plants in an era when we are facing climate change, I think it made sense to retain this plant on the grid, especially when there isn’t renewable energy right away to replace it