Gov. Kathy Hochul says New York should have done a better job anticipating the state’s energy needs before negotiating the deal that shuttered the Indian Point nuclear power plant in 2021.
“What would have made sense was if you’re going to shut that down, you do it when you have a Plan B,” Hochul told the USA TODAY Network. “How are you replacing that energy? I don’t know if it was 25% of power for New York City came from that facility. I understand the anxiety around it, the concern that something devastating could happen.”
Hochul was lieutenant governor in 2017 when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a shutdown agreement following years of legal battles with the plant’s owners, Louisiana-based Entergy. Cuomo cited fears of a nuclear disaster some 30 miles from New York City, musing that Westchester County’s evacuation plan for the Hudson River plant was “to give everybody an iodine pill.”
But the shutdown removed a vital clean-energy source for the downstate region while the state was pursuing an ambitious set of goals laid out in the Climate and Community Protection Act of 2018, specifically a 70% reliance on renewables like wind, solar and hydropower for the state’s energy needs by 2030. Those goals now appear out of reach, largely due to the slow build-out of renewables across the state.
When the second of Indian Point’s two working reactors shut down in 2021, fossil fuel use downstate surged, an outcome that typically follows nuclear plant shutdowns and one experts predicted. But four years later, fossil fuels that were supposed to be a bridge to a cleaner energy future have become an indispensable source of the region’s electricity needs.
In 2019, the percentage of electricity generated by fossil fuel downstate was 68%, according to a study of data from the New York Independent System Operator done by the pro-nuclear group Nuclear New York. In 2023, it was 94%.
Energy demand is surging in NY
Increased electrification of homes and vehicles, coupled with the emergence of energy-hungry data centers has only increased demand. Shorting the grid of the energy it needs to keep lights on and air conditioners humming would risk a brownout or worse, a political nightmare Hochul would rather avoid.
“I believe in the goals that were set forth with the Climate Act in 2018,” Hochul said during the interview at USA TODAY Network’s headquarters in Manhattan in late May. “But I have to deal in reality. I have to deal with the fact that there was a pandemic, there was some supply chain disruption, there was inflation and there is now a hostile administration to all of our goals and objectives. So we’re going to be set back for four years. So I need all the champions of this (climate) law. They need to understand that my heart and my vision is to take us to that place to protect our environment and our climate for the future, but I also can’t turn my back on what we need to do now.”
In conversations with President Donald Trump earlier this year, Hochul said she urged the president to back off his resistance to a wind project off the coast of Long Island that would deliver power to New York City. Trump, she said, relented and agreed to “let her have it.”
But in return, she agreed to back off her administration’s opposition to natural gas pipelines and to consider adding more nuclear power to the grid.
“I did tell him that I would be openminded to other forms of energy,” Hochul said. “Nuclear. I’ll be open to natural gas pipelines, but they still have to adhere to the same laws that were in place before. And they have to follow state federal and local laws.”
She added: “I’m looking for ways to provide a more secure energy future for New York and our residents and our businesses, especially when I have all these options for high-energy use companies like a Micron,” she said.
Tech giant Micron has plans to build a $100 billion semiconductor hub in Central New York to compete with China.
NY climate activists: Nuclear’s never coming back
Pushback from environmental groups opposed to pipelines and nuclear power in the lower Hudson Valley could be an obstacle.
Last year, a Republican-backed measure to study reopening Indian Point was mocked by state lawmakers from the region. State Sen. Pete Harckham said Indian Point would be “re-nuclearized when Elvis Presley makes his comeback tour.”
But, Hochul says, what she has in mind is not the towering, water-cooled reactors like those once used at Indian Point.
“When I talk nuclear today, I’m talking about a whole new level of technology, the small modular reactors in particular that we could secure quicker approvals for,” she said. “Because I need the power now and I want to drive down costs.”
She mentioned Fort Drum in the northwestern part of the state as a possible host. The fort located near the Canadian border is in an upstate region that includes two nuclear plants on Lake Ontario in Oswego.
Small modular reactors are still years away from commercial use. But, the USA TODAY Network reported last year, members of the Hochul Administration have already met with a company developing the reactors to learn more about the technology.
Indian Point supporters: We told you so
Hochul’s comments about Indian Point rekindled concerns voiced by those who fought against the shutdown when the deal was announced.
“She’s right,” said Theresa Knickerbocker, the mayor the village of Buchanan, where the 240-acre plant is located. “They had no Plan B. Plan B was to replace that power with two gas-fired plants so shame on those environmentalists that think that’s OK. You didn’t hear anybody having a fit over those two gas-fired plants. They were just happy that Indian Point was closed.”
Entergy paid millions of dollars in property taxes annually to Buchanan.
When the shutdown was announced, state officials said the CPV Valley Energy Center in Wawayanda and the Cricket Valley Energy Center in Dover would fill the energy gap until enough renewable sources of power became available.
Charles Komanoff, a New York-based economist who’s studied the downstate energy grid in the wake of the shutudown, said shortsighted state officials failed to take into account the climate impacts.
“Indian Point’s closure has squandered public good for private agendas,” said Komanoff, who switched his stance on nuclear power in response to the climate crisis. “The governor and his celebrity pals grossly undervalued the plant’s value and wildly overestimated its risks, and the result is costlier electricity, dirtier air, damaged climate and good jobs gone. The supposed adults in the room were anything but.”
Actor Mark Ruffalo was among the celebrities who joined the environmental watchdog group Riverkeeper in calling for the shutdown.
Pro-nuclear groups welcome Hochul’s embrace of nuclear power as a clean-energy source.
“Governor Hochul understands that a reliable, affordable power supply is the foundation for economic growth and good jobs across New York,” said Dietmar Detering, the chairman of Nuclear New York. “As the state builds out renewables, nuclear energy offers a stable, zero-emission backbone that supports both climate goals and long-term prosperity.”
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Hochul: Indian Point closed without a backup plan. How will NY cover clear energy gap?
Reporting by Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
