FORT DRUM, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has visited an old coal plant in the North Country that's being turned into a biomass energy facility.

Cuomo traveled Monday to Fort Drum, where ReEnergy Holdings of Albany purchased the idled plant on the U.S. Army base last year. The company plans to buy wood chips from local foresters to use as the facility's main fuel source. Cuomo says he's urged the federal defense department to approve a contract with ReEnergy for the power.

ReEnergy expects the plant to be operational next year.