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Over the past decade strong opinions have clashed over the fate of the coal-burning Cayuga Power Plant.  Tax revenue from the plant plummeted as its taxable value was negotiated down from a high of $160 million to its current $20 million.  Some in Lansing passionately argued for conversion to natural gas while the rest of the county and others in Lansing did their darndest to oppose any use of fossil fuels.  Two years ago the plant owners, Cayuga Operating Company, a subsidiary of Heorot Power, proposed an 18 megawatt solar array, as well as a gas conversion, but despite widespread support of the solar piece, the owners have been unable to move forward.  Now they are proposing another kind of conversion, from an electric power provider to a major consumer of electricity when they convert their business to what may become one of the largest data centers in New York State.

"You'd have good-paying job creation, probably about 30 of them at the $40,000 to $60,000 range," says Lansing Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne. "You'd have an opportunity to create a business park up there if you wanted to.  At some point if this is the direction that New York State wants to go in, it looks like this company is a willing participant.  We'll find out through Albany's actions how serious they are."

The new enterprise would require turning the existing power plant building into a 100 megawatt data center that Cayuga Operating Company is calling 'Empire State Data Hub'.  The company proposes a $100 million capital investment and says the new business will generate 30 to 40 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs with average salaries between $40,000 and $60,000.  A 15 megawatt solar farm is proposed for the 75 acres that would have been used in its previous solar array plan.  The company estimates 100 construction jobs would be created by the project.

"If this project is successful, it will be a major win," says Tompkins County Legislature and Industrial Development Agency (IDA) Chairman Rich John.  "Finding a forward looking use for the facility that will help replace the many years of value the power plant has provided is vital to maintaining the vibrancy that has existed in the Town, and the County."

The company says it needs two things from Albany to make the project viable.  The first is a 125 megawatt renewable energy allocation from the New York Power Authority (NYPA) that would provide the energy the data center would need using power generated by Niagara Falls.  The second is capital funding to assist with the reuse of the electrical equipment that has already been applied for with Empire State Development.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's clean energy initiatives, including his announcement earlier this month that the state's remaining coal power plants will be required to close in 2020, mean the Lansing plant will close next year, no matter what.  Both the Cayuga and Somerset power plants share an owner, and the company intends to convert both to data centers.

LaVigne says that means that Albany's response to the company's requests for energy allotments and capital funding from Empire State Development (ESD) will show just how serious state legislators are about going green.  Other representatives agree. 

Tompkins County Legislator (Town of Lansing) Mike Sigler says that the proposal to receive most of the power needed for the data center from hydro-electric power generated by Niagara Falls, and the rest from the solar array the company still plans to build are in keeping with Albany's renewable energy goals.

"This fits with Governor Cuomo's plans to move away from fossil fuels, but has the added benefit of not stranding assets that have taken decades to build.  This would lock in jobs in data storage and artificial intelligence in Tompkins County, near Cornell, a global University," Sigler says.  "This checks all the boxes the Governor has listed in his program for the future.  I know the plant is working hard to protect this asset that's given so much to our community and has the potential to bring millions of dollars in assessed value back on the tax roles."

NYS Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton lobbied for funds that help communities with closing power plants make a gentler property tax transition as they try to bring new business revenue to their communities.  But Lansing didn't qualify because when the money was approved in Albany it was only for communities that had closed power plants.  The Lansing plant limped along, losing more than 85% of its assessed value, but has not actually closed.  John says Albany has an obligation to come to the company's and the Town's assistance.

"Certainly, we want to see the financial assistance the State can bring to this project," he says.  "As the move from coal is a Statewide goal, but the impacts are felt here, the transitional assistance New York can bring to blunt the local pain is essential.  Particularly, even if the new plan is fully executed, and new jobs are created, we need to make sure there are employment pathways for  the present employees of the power plant.   The impacts of the power plant closing have already been felt in the declining assessed value.  The government services that depend upon those taxes have not gone away during these transitional years.  Again, as moving away from coal has been a clear goal for New York State, it has a responsibility to help Lansing get through this process without undue economic damage."

John is quite clear about County involvement in supporting the project.

"The County Legislators are going on record with New York State to express how important this new data center will be to the economic health of Lansing, and Upstate generally," he says. "In addition, I believe the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency should have a role to play as well in bringing this project along."

'Going on record' means a letter that Tompkins County Legislature Chair Martha Robertson sent to Cuomo Tuesday.  It is signed by every Tompkins County legislator except Anne Koreman.  Copies were forwarded to Gil Quiniones, NYPA President; John Koelmel, NYPA Board of Trustees; Howard Zemsky, Empire State Development Executive Director; Pamela Helming, NY State Senator; Robert Ortt, NY State Senator; Barbara Lifton, NY State Assemblymember; Ed LaVigne, Town of Lansing Supervisor; Dale Bryk, Deputy Secretary for Energy and Environment; and John Maggiore, Director of Policy.

The letter begins, "We, the undersigned, write to express our full support for the proposed $650 million Empire State Data Hub (ESDH) and the planned closure of the 306 MW Cayuga coal facility in Lansing, to repurpose the 434-acre site as one component of two large-scale data centers in upstate New York. The Cayuga Operating company is seeking an allocation of renewable energy from NYPA and has submitted an application with Empire State Development seeking economic assistance to transition the Cayuga site. Both applications are currently under review by those agencies."

It goes on to specifically urge NYPA to approve Cayuga Operating Company's application for a 125 megawatt renewable energy allotment, and ESD to approve the company's "$65 million in economic assistance as part of the overall $650 million capital investment to transition the site from an aging coal plant location to a modern large-scale Data Hub."  Robertson points out that the Legislature supported Cuomo's 'Green Deal' by opposing earlier plans to repower the plant.  But she says the Governor's support of the transformation to a data center aligns with Cuomo's stated goals."

"We believe the ESDH addresses this rallying call by recognizing the economic opportunity in the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy, right here in Tompkins County. We further believe this plan could serve as the blueprint for how other states can transition retired coal sites without the need for new market structures or credits.

Lifton said she supports the project, but was not specific about what kind of support she would offer.

"I was glad to hear about the proposal for a new data center in Lansing on the site of the Cayuga Power Plant," she said. "It sounds like a very good project. It's my understanding that the owners are applying for hydro-power from the New York Power Authority  and, assuming they are allocated that power, we would see a high-tech carbon-free computing facility which would be a very significant and positive addition to our community."

Cayuga Operating Company presented the project to the Legislature's Planning, Energy, and Environmental Quality Committee Wednesday.  After attending the meeting Tompkins County Legislator (Villages of Lansing and Cayuga Heights) Deborah Dawson said she supports the project.

"Although there are still a lot of pieces of the project that are up in the air, the important thing is that the plan is not dependent on fossil fuels," said Dawson. "I very much appreciate Cayuga Operating Company's persistent efforts to come up with a plan for the property that meets the needs of our community in an environmentally responsible way. I support the proposal, and have signed a letter that Chair Robertson wrote to Governor Cuomo, urging Albany to provide whatever support Cayuga Operating Company needs to make this happen. I hope this will be a happy ending for Tompkins County and Lansing, after many, many years of contention between the plant's owners, operators, and employees, and the environmental activists in our community."

LaVigne stresses that Cayuga Operating Company should be viewed as a partner, rather than an adversary.  He argues that the right win for the company will also be a win for the Lansing community in terms of regaining tax revenue and bringing in new, well-paying jobs.

"One of the reasons (Beowulf Energy/Heorot Power Managing Director ) Michael Enright revisited this was because we had a positive relation when we tried to help them fire up a solar array two years ago," LaVigne says. "We said what can we do to help you succeed?  Because if you succeed the Town of Lansing benefits.  The tax base increases, and it's not just the Town of Lansing. It's the Lansing school district, lansing Fire District, Lansing Library, Tompkins County... we all benefit from this because we have a viable partner who is successful."

Sigler says that while the transformation seems like one business trying to reinvent themselves as a new business they have no experience with, the truth is that they actually have done this before.

"The owner, Blackstone (the parent company of Heorot Power), has already done this with a plant in Montana," Sigler says. "They had a significant amount of support from the state and they'll need that support from New York in terms of energy supply to do this here.  If that state support can be secured, it will mean a significant private investment in the plant including solar and energy storage and a data business that will only grow."

Legislators are not the only ones responding to Cayuga Operating Company's new plan.  About 30 people turned out at the Lansing Town Hall Monday to learn about how communities organize to transform old coal power plants into solar or other desirable, green alternatives.  The meeting was hosted by Lansing members of Mothers Out Front, a Boston-based non-profit that lobbies for 'concrete solutions toward a livable climate for all children'.

Toxics Action Center Lead Community Organizer Claire Muller gave a presentation on how her group assisted in transforming the Mount Tom coal-powered plant in Holyoke, Massachusetts into a solar farm.  Muller stressed that the Holyoke success began with research and analysis of what everyone in the community wanted, including the company that owned the plant, and the union that represented workers at the plant.  She said that the power plant's parent company had to be convinced to participate by being given a choice of meeting with organizers or a public protest replete with news coverage in front of their Connecticut headquarters.  The company chose the meeting, which eventually led to the solar solution.


Her presentation was followed by a summary of the data center plan by LaVigne. He observed that Lansing's situation is different from Holyoke's in that the power plant company here is already a willing participant, which means that everybody in the community, including the company, is starting on the same page.  He said that community organizers can support the effort to get the resources needed from the State to make the project happen, but also said that some details are to be worked out, such as how current employees will experience the transition, and the issue of coal ash cleanup.  His message was one of optimism, that with a common goal the community can turn the dying power plant, which has already lost $140 million in assessed value, into something positive for the community that will bring new jobs and prosperity, and possibly attract other businesses to the northwest corner of Lansing.

"For once we can all agree on something," LaVigne said, "and not fight over everything, and maybe move forward together.  What can we do as a group to find ways to initiate action as the Governor in Albany talks to the Power Authority to get the allocation of the power?"

Cayuga Operating Company representatives are scheduled to give a public presentation of the project at the Lansing Town Hall on Wednesday, June 26th at 6:00pm.

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