Danskammer Energy is abandoning plans to build a new methane facility in Newburgh, New York

Danskammer Energy will not build a new methane power plant in Newburgh, New York. After years of legal setbacks, the company today withdrew plans to build a plant that could have emitted nearly 2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and additional air pollution in the Hudson Valley.

In 2021, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) denied an air permit for the gas plant, arguing that the new plant would make it more difficult to meet mandatory emissions reduction goals set out in New York State’s landmark climate law. The proposed plant would replace the current Danskammer power plant – a former coal-fired power plant converted in 2014 to burn methane that only operates a few days a year.

Passed in 2019, New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) mandates a transition to a clean energy economy that fosters healthy communities and well-paying jobs while reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050. 1990 levels. The law also requires New York to achieve 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040.

Sierra Club and Orange RAPP, represented by Earthjustice in DEC air permit proceedings, Art. 10 Electric Siting Board and in state court, argued that clean energy resources (wind, solar, storage, efficiency and demand response) could better meet electricity needs in the Hudson Valley. DEC’s overflight permit proceedings have been on hold for the past year as Danskammer voluntarily took a step back after both a state administrative law judge and a state judge in Orange County confirmed that DEC had the authority to deny the permits, finding them considered inconsistent with the clean energy goals of the CLCPA.

Melissa Legge, senior attorney at Earthjustice, stated: “Building a methane plant is simply inconsistent with New York’s climate goals set out in the CLCPA. Today’s decision by Danskammer shows that it has accepted what environmental advocates in New York have known for years: the time for building new gas-fired power plants is over. Now is the time to invest in clean energy and transition to a clean electricity grid powered by renewable energy sources.”

Josh Berman, senior attorney at the Sierra Club, said: “New Yorkers can breathe easier knowing that developers have finally moved forward with the state’s last fracked gas plant proposal. “We hope that this will now allow New York regulators to turn their attention to accelerating the deployment of clean, renewable energy and energy storage resources needed to meet the key requirements of the state’s Climate Act.”

This is the latest proposal to stop methane plants in New York after the CLCPA goes into effect. Earthjustice, UPROSE, and PEAK coalition partners worked to defeat proposals to build new gas-fired power plants in Astoria and Gowanus, New York. In 2021, plans for both plants were abandoned, and in 2022, NRG announced that it would sell the Astoria site to Beacon Wind in order to combine an offshore wind project.