NRG Announces Huntley Coal Retirement: Coalition Calls for Just Transition

On August 25th 2015 NRG announced the retirement of the Huntley Coal plant in the Town of Tonawanda. The facility employees 79 workers and contributes significant revenue to our local municipalities including the Town of Tonawanda, Erie County and millions to the Kenmore Tonawanda School District.

The company cited economic reasons for the retirement. “We don’t foresee any scenario where the plant would be economically viable,” said David Gaier, NRG’s spokesman to The Buffalo News, “This is a reflection of the economics of power generation.”

For the last year and a half Clean Air has been working with hundreds of local residents and allies including the WNY Labor Federation and the Kenmore Teachers Association, to generate a plan in case of this announcement. In January 2014 we shared the results of the prophetic report that showed Huntley was struggling financially and was likely to close.

• In the spring of 2014 we held 4 community assemblies that shared the details of the report, and where residents and workers generated ideas on who would need to be taken care of in case of the closure, and how we could take care of them.
• After the assemblies a group of stakeholders was established, to flush out these ideas, and create a proactive Just Transition plan. This plan includes how to make up revenue lost by the retirement, potential pots of money to provide for workers, and a pathway forward to begin long term economic development planning for the Town.
• In June of 2014 we held a Just Transition Conference at New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) – where experts on economic development and coal transitions came to share ideas of how communities across the country have dealt with similar challenges.
• In October 2014 The Buffalo News editorial board cited our work and stated “The plant’s days appear to be numbered, at least as it exists today… Because of that, local entities that have become dependent upon the plant might want to start planning ahead.”
• In May of 2015 we partnered with the UB School of Architecture and Planning – and  students took up the challenge of imagining what the Huntley site could look like if the plant retires. These ideas where shared publicly with residents who live closest to the plant
• In June of this year – our work began to pay off – and the NYS Legislature allocated $19 million for municipalities and districts facing coal plant closures.

Yesterday, when NRG made their announcement, we were ready. Together, with Richard Lipsitz, President of the WNY Labor Federation and Peter Stuhlmiller, President of the Kenmore Teachers Association, we released the following statement:

“Our community and partners in the labor movement have been preparing for this announcement. We call on the New York State Government to support our communities through this transition by funding our plan for a Just Transition. Our plan will make our communities whole by securing funding for our schools, compensating and caring for coal plant workers and families, and begin the process of cleaning up the site and reconnecting us to our waterfront.

The Tonawanda community has been working to develop a transition plan for over a year with input from residents who live by the plant, the Western New York Area Labor Federation, IBEW Local 97, the Kenmore Teachers Association, and many others. Because we began early, Tonawanda is well situated to handle the transition. We remain committed to an inclusive planning process.”

Join us at our community meeting September 10th. More details to come.