No Nukes
What Will be the Fate of Indian Point?
While much of yesterday’s-and today’s-news was eclipsed by the bad decisions of our governor, an important energy issue went to court: Indian Point renewal licenses. The state of New York itself, in addition to a host of environmental groups and Westchester Country stand in opposition to allowing the plants to be relicensed. This is the first time a state has explicitly voiced opposition to a license renewal.
Indian Point Nuclear Reactor
In somewhat typical-but hilarious fashion the only person in the room with a microphone was the judge. At first members of the audience complained that they could not hear, followed by lawyers and participants voicing the same concern. The judge simply told them they could read the transcript later. That seems fair…
More mikes were later brought in.
But even during the morning session, what was loud and clear was that the plaintiff has quite a case to build. The State is concerned that even the smallest risk of failure is too large for such a densely populated area and the risk of terror. But the Nuclear Regulatory Committee claims that evaluating whether the site was a good fit to begin with is not in the scope of work. Citing a host of problems that Indian Point has experienced in the last few decades, this Times article is a solid explanation of the challenges of the case.
Sad to think that the day that could be a step towards eliminating these plants was such a mess of a day for the state of New York. Never mind the fallacy of his moral high ground that was exposed yesterday, but Spitzer’s vision for a more environmentally sound New York is (perhaps was) real. At least I think it is…we shall see.
