KINGSTON – Ulster County Executive Michael Hein is opposing a proposal to build a gas-fired electric generating facility in the Town of Ulster, not far from the county’s recently opened solar farm.
He urged the state Department of Public Service and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority “to do everything in their collective power to suspend this project immediately pending policy changes that will allow for a non-fossil fuel alternative, such as a battery-only or battery with renewable facility.”
The Lincoln Park Project proposed by Glidepath Power Solutions LLC, a 20 MW gas-fired generation plant with diesel backup and battery storage “is severely flawed in that it would bind future generations to unsustainable fossil fuel infrastructure with the accompanying negative environmental impacts,” Hein wrote in a letter to the state officials.
He said the project would “directly impact a residential neighborhood and there are significant concerns regarding effects to local and regional air quality as well as water resources,” and he said while the plant is described by its sponsors as a “peaking plant, it may in fact operate up to 14 hours a day, further exacerbating the negative impacts on our community including increases in greenhouse gas emissions.”
The environmental group KingstonCitizens.org called Hein’s stance an “historic moment” in their advocacy for sustainable energy.
Environmental organization Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan said Hein “gets it right – both in opposing Glidepath/Lincoln Park power plant and calling for alignment of federal and state policies regarding the siting of power plants in the region.”
