Capital Energy: Coal creeping back; State unprepared for oil trains

By Scott Waldman and David Giambusso

COAL CREEPING BACK IN NY: Just a few months ago, New York's coal-burning power plants appeared to be on their way to extinction. But the proposed re-powering of a dormant coal-fired power plant in the Finger Lakes could signal the state is not ready to shift away from the nation's favorite fossil fuel. Atlas Holdings LLC. of Connecticut wants to re-power the Greenidge plant in Yates County by August.

Cheap natural gas, tough emissions regulations and aging equipment that is expensive to replace have made coal plants hard to keep profitable. A few years ago, more than half of the nation's energy grid was powered by coal, but that has dropped to less than 40 percent today because of the fracking boom and increased federal and state pressure to reduce air pollution. The national shift away from coal makes the re-powering of the Greenidge coal plant in Yates County all the more notable because it shows the state is not ready to shift entirely to natural gas, which is a much cleaner energy source.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/energy/2014/05/8546271/capital-energy-coal-creeping-back-state-unprepared-oil-trains