“Dear Friend,
NIRS is delighted to celebrate the historic agreement to close the Indian Point 2 and 3 nuclear reactors by 2021, which has been a focus of NIRS for over 35 years! We congratulate Hudson Riverkeeper, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and Governor Andrew Cuomo for achieving this vital public safety and environmental justice victory.
Using the momentum from this sucess, it is essential that we Tell President-Elect Trump to stop the $100 billion nuclear bailout once and for all!
Indian Point’s closure is historic NOT just because it brings victory to 40 years of grassroots activism, but it protects 17 million people who live and work within 50 miles of Indian Point, including nearly the entirety of New York City, and it protects the Hudson River, making its restoration from 50+ years of abuse by nuclear power possible.
Every day Indian Point operates millions of lives are at risk and economic catastrophe looms, but absent this agreement, Entergy would likely have kept up its irresponsible lawsuits to delay closure for many more years. This agreement puts an end date on that risk. The fact that the State of New York and Riverkeeper will be able to monitor Indian Point’s safety until the reactors are shut down is essential to protecting public safety in the meantime. Its closure also demonstrates the extent to which the nuclear industry is on the verge of collapse.
Indian Point was the “crown jewel” of the US nuclear industry, the most profitable plant in the country, the one the industry believed it would never let go, but now Entergy admits it is barely profitable. Entergy says Indian Point was doomed to closure due to mounting safety problems, with hundreds of failed and missing bolts, transformer explosions, tritium leaks, and months-long outages. It’s clear that the lights will soon go out on the entire nuclear industry—that is without massive subsidies. We can’t allow the Trump administration to bailout dirty, dangerous, and old nuclear reactors!
In light of Indian Point’s closure agreement, we are puzzled by Governor Cuomo’s hypocritical decision to provide $7.6 billion in subsidies to prevent the closures of four other nuclear reactors in New York. The governor rightly says Indian Point is dirty and dangerous to operate and it can close without insurmountable problems for New York communities, workers, and climate goals, and that we can develop renewable energy and efficiency without a problem. Yet he’s thrown up his hands with other reactors and written off the safety and environmental problems that nuclear power plants impose on upstate communities and Lake Ontario.
We applaud Governor Cuomo’s role in bringing the long struggle to close Indian Point to a hopeful conclusion, and his decision to launch a 10 year, $5 billion Clean Energy Fund that will advance solar, energy efficiency, and America’s largest offshore wind farm in Montauk.
But we are also going to hold him accountable for ignoring the dangers of every other nuclear reactor in New York, and for wasting billions of our clean energy dollars to prolong hose risks and create more and more radioactive waste.
We need to make sure every governor and the federal government get the message, it’s time for a nuclear PHASE-OUT, not bailout!
THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the #NuclearIsDirty campaign – we exceeded our goal by over $2,000, raising $52,259! We couldn’t have achieved this without you.
Thanks for all you do,
Tim Judson
Executive Director“
