INDIAN POINT SAFE ENERGY COALITION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:    October 9, 2003  

For more information contact:

 Lisa Rainwater van Suntum (212) 544-0045

Kyle Rabin (845) 424-4149 x 239

 IPSEC COALITION DEMANDS INVESTIGATION OF PROCEDURAL AND

 SUBSTANTIVE CONCERNS REGARDING FEMA’S JULY 25^TH DETERMINATION

 THAT INDIAN POINT’S EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN IS “ADEQUATE”

Yesterday, the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC) delivered letters to Senator Schumer, Senator Clinton, Representative Sue Kelly, Representative Nita Lowey, Representative Eliot Engel, Representative Edward Markey, Representative Maurice Hinchey, Governor Pataki, and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. 

 The letters request a thorough investigation into the July 25, 2003 determination of “reasonable assurance” issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that the offsite radiological emergency preparedness for the Indian Point nuclear power plants is adequate.  (FEMA and DHS’s determination was immediately supported by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the form of an agency press release.)

 The investigation that IPSEC is demanding would be in addition to the Congressional hearings that have been called for and could be conducted by such government entities as the U.S. General Accounting Office, the Office of the New York State Inspector General, and the Office of the New York State Attorney General. 

The investigation would shed light on 1) how the new administrative process works, 2) how FEMA, DHS, and the NRC reached their conclusion of “reasonable assurance,” and 3) what exactly constitutes “reasonable assurance” (and whether FEMA, DHS, and the NRC have been afforded too much flexibility in interpreting this term.)  Of particular concern is whether the reshuffling of FEMA under the new DHS affects FEMA’s authority in determining “reasonable assurance.” 

“The public needs answers,” said Lisa Rainwater van Suntum, IPSEC Project Coordinator.  “The fact that FEMA and the DHS waited until October 6, 2003 – over 60 days after the issuance of the July 25, 2003 decision of “reasonable assurance” to publish the decision in the Federal Register – suggests that the decision-making process may be procedurally, if not substantively, flawed.  We are calling on our elected officials to investigate the inconsistencies in this process,” Rainwater van Suntum concluded. 

 Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC). IPSEC is a coalition of sixty civic, environmental, health and public policy organizations that formed in response to a flood of citizen concerns about the safety of Indian Point nuclear power plants after the terrorist attacks on 9.11.01.  Our goal is to ensure the safety and security of our neighborhoods by bringing about the immediate closure of Indian Point and its safe and orderly decommissioning.