April xx, 2023
The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Hochul,
On behalf of the undersigned organizations and our members and supporters, we urge you to prevent Holtec International, the firm responsible for decommissioning the Indian Point nuclear power plant, from discharging approximately one million gallons of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River. In a recent statement Holtec said that it will resume these discharges as early as May fourth, at the start of the recreation season when thousands of New Yorkers are gearing up to swim, fish, paddle and boat in the Hudson. This is three months earlier than the timetable described by Holtec during a meeting on February 2, 2023. Furthermore, we are deeply concerned about the impacts on the health and safety of local residents, the River’s ecosystem, and local economies. The Hudson Valley region is densely populated and also serves as a recreational area for millions from New York City and across the state. We call on you to use your authority as governor to ensure the necessary state and federal agencies take action to halt the dumping of toxic waste into our waterways including the Hudson River.
The Indian Point nuclear power plant was rightfully shuttered in 2021, yet the spent fuel pool wastewater remaining on the site contains radioactive contaminants, including tritium. Exposure to tritium is linked to cancer, miscarriages, genetic defects and other adverse health effects. There is no safe dose of radiation and its harmful impacts are cumulative. Developing fetuses, children and child-bearing women are at far greater risk from these exposures. Federal standards on radioactive releases to the environment are based on a healthy adult male and have not been updated to protect the most vulnerable. Simply put, with all that we know now, it would be reckless and irresponsible to continue to dump toxic and radioactive substances into the Hudson River.
The Hudson River is among New York’s most important economic and recreational resources and is an ecosystem for a wide array of fish and marine life. Noxious industries have threatened the River before. We commend your action to oppose and ultimately halt the Danskammer fracked gas plant from being expanded on the banks of the Hudson River. Please continue your legacy of protecting the Hudson River from polluters by calling on Holtec to store its toxic radioactive waste on site and work with regulatory agencies and environmental organizations on a better, safer, permanent disposal method that protects New Yorkers and our water sources.
A growing number of municipalities, including Westchester and Rockland counties, have adopted resolutions opposing Holtec’s plan to dump radioactive waste into the Hudson River. Senator Peter Harckham and Assembly Member Dana Levenberg have also introduced legislation that would prohibit discharges of radioactive contaminants into New York waterways, and we believe that Holtec’s desire to accelerate its discharge schedule to May may be an attempt to get around the new restrictions that could be imposed. We urge your office to support this legislation before May and make sure that Holtec’s reckless proposal does not proceed.
New York’s magnificent Hudson River must not serve as a dumping ground for nuclear industry polluters while we work to continue the restoration of this significant tidal estuary. The economic and environmental damage of dumping radioactive waste into our precious water sources would be profound and unnecessary, only serving the interests of Holtec and its shareholders. We urge you to put the health and safety of New Yorkers first by stopping Holtec’s dangerous plan and ensuring a precedent is set here in New York that polluters cannot dump radioactive substances into our state’s waterways.
Sincerely,
Food & Water Watch (Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director)
United for Clean Energy (Tina Volz-Bongar)
Grassroots Environmental Education (Ellen Weininger)
Westchester for Change (Susan Van Dolsen)
Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (Marilyn Elie)
NYCD16 Indivisible (Iris Hiskey Arno)
United for Action (Ling Tsou)
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World (June Tano)
Hudson Riverkeeper (Rebecca Martin, Director of Community Partnerships)
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. (Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Action Director)
KingstonCitizens.org (advisory board)
TownOfUlsterCitizens.org (Laura Hartmann)
Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena – Coeymans (Barbara Heinzen, community member)
Newburgh Clean Water Project (Jennifer Rawlison and others?)
Rensselaer Environmental Coalition (Robert Welton, Board of Directors)
Turtle Clan of The Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation (Chief Vincent Mann and Paul Tobin)
Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation
The Caretaker Society
The Two Row Wampum Unity Riders Pipe Carriers Cercle
Green Phoenix Permaculture
New York Communities for Change
New City Neighborhood Association, Inc.
Indivisible New Rochelle
Concerned Families of Westchester (CFOW)
Beacon Climate Action Now (BCAN)
Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE)
Ulster Activists (U-Act)
WESPAC Foundation
Oceans 8 Films (Jon Bowermaster)
Scenic Hudson (Andy Bicking, Director of Government Relations and Public Policy)
NYPIRG (Anne Rabe, Environmental Policy Director and others?)
Judith Enck, Former EPA Region 2 Regional Administrator
EscapeMaker Inc. (Cailyn Sanders)
Media Alliance/The Sanctuary for Independent Media (KP Holler, Executive Director)
NY/NJ Baykeeper (Greg Remaud, Baykeeper & CEO)
Green Ossining (Suzie Ross)
Western New York Chapter of the Climate Reality Project (Lynn Saxton, Co-Chair)
Climate Reality, Hudson Valley & Catskills chapter (Tim Guinee, Tom Polton, Eve Morgenstern, Linda Rachele Burke, Co-Chairs)
Paul Gallay
Rondout Creek Watershed Alliance (Laura Finestone, Chair)
ROAR (Religious Organizations Along the River) (M. Doretta Cornell)
Rogers’ Community, Maryknoll Sisters Center (Sister Theresa Kastner, MM)
Sisters of Charity of New York (Carol De Angelo, SC, Director of Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation)
The language and Culture Committee of the Stockbridge Munsee band of Mohicans (Shawn L Stevens Chairperson)
Citizen Action of New York (Bob Cohen, Policy and Research Director)
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter (Kate Bartholomew, Chair)
