By William Opalka

EPA has overruled New York officials and ordered an additional air quality review for a dormant coal-fired power plant in the Finger Lakes region whose owners want to convert it to biomass and natural gas.

Owners of the Greenidge Generation Plant on Tuesday wrote to the New York Public Service Commission to say the EPA Region 2 administrator rejected the state’s finding that the change from coal to either biomass or natural gas is not a “major modification.”

“The primary basis for EPA’s objection is that, if reactivated, Greenidge will be subject to the Clean Air Act’s … permit program as a new source,” EPA wrote on Dec. 7.

The 106-MW plant on Seneca Lake has been dormant for nearly four years. The owners are seeking to revive it and add a new supply line for natural gas. (See Finger Lakes Plant Seeks Gas Line for Repowering.)

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation had issued a draft permit that EPA said was incomplete.

“We strongly disagree with the EPA’s decision given that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation conducted a thorough and complete review before issuing this draft permit, concluding that Greenidge clearly meets all the federal and state standards for resuming full operation,” Greenidge spokesman Michael McKeon said in a statement. “We are currently analyzing the EPA’s response to determine how best to restart the facility as soon as possible.”

He said the company has 90 days to respond to EPA.

The state awarded Greenidge $2 million on Dec. 11 to renovate the plant in Dresden to allow it to burn 100% natural gas. McKeon said the plant would lose that grant — part of a five-year, $500 million Upstate Revitalization Initiative for the Finger Lakes region — if the delay lasts as long as a year.