“What if the worst happened? What if there were a catastrophe at the Indian Point nuclear power plants? What if there were even a very expensive repair needed at Indian Point? What would Entergy, the owner that claims to be so concerned with our community, do?

Now, after Entergy’s response to Hurricane Katrina has been made public, the answer is clear: Entergy would cut and run. Entergy does not really own Indian Point — instead, it has set up a number of limited liability corporations, which own these nuclear reactors. What does that mean to us? It means that money flows in one direction — up from these LLCs to the $10 billion parent company. It means that when the LLC has financial difficulties, Entergy selectively forgets the $1 million-a-day income per reactor it has been pocketing and lets its subsidiary LLC go bankrupt, instead of sending back some of these profits to help the community.

This is not some paranoid fiction put forth by a plant opponent — this is what Entergy did with Entergy New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. As people still suffer from lack of power, Entergy feels no pain, with Entergy New Orleans having put itself into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, creating even more delay and uncertainty in the restoration of electric service to the community.

So what is the answer? Force Entergy to close down these dangerous and risky nuclear reactors now, before the worst becomes reality. After Indian Point is closed, then, and only then, will residents be truly safe.”

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