News Archive 2003

Lawmaker: State needs Indian Point
By Nicoletta Koveos
Times Herald-Record (Middletown)
November 6, 2003

Closing Indian Point would be disastrous to New York's power supply, a new coalition that aims to boost capacity said yesterday.

"If Indian Point were to go off line, we would have immediate crises," said state Assemblyman Howard Mills, R-C-Hamptonburgh.

Mills was among 50 people in New York City yesterday to witness the launch of a group that aims to make sure the metropolitan area has enough power for businesses to grow.

New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance is made up of 17 organizations based in New York City and the metropolitan area. Mills isn't a member of the group, but he was an invited guest.

Yesterday's meeting drew members of the business community, hospitals, labor organizations and community groups, a coalition of sometimes unlikely allies.

The group's aim is to spur more generating capacity, which would, in turn, increase economic activity.

Mills said that shutting down Indian Point would not relieve any possible nuclear dangers immediately. That could take years to fix, he said.

However, the ramifications of shutting down Indian Point would be felt instantly, Mill contended.

Environmental groups such as Riverkeeper have argued the opposite. The group, with Pace Law School, released a study this year that found that closing Indian Point would not have as dire an effect on the New York metropolitan area as many think. Those who say the plant should be shut down are worried about a number of things, including what would happen if a terrorist attack should occur at the power plant.

Without Indian Point, New York City has access to 13,000 megawatts of power, said Kyle Rabin, senior policy analyst with Riverkeeper. During peak periods the city needs only 11,000 megawatts, he said.

"That reserve margin could be further expanded with conservation," Rabin said. "There's a lot of false information that this new coalition is already putting out."

But Mills said he thinks the state's electricity supply is still problematic.

"It's really honestly one of the critical issues facing New York state, and people are just not aware of that," Mills said. "By 2005, the City of New York is going to need 3,000 additional megawatts and the rest of the state is going to need 7,000 megawatts."

New York's Article X Siting Law, which governs the approval process for power plants, expired nearly a year ago.

Business people and the power industry want relaxed siting rules. At minimum, they want the law renewed. Environmentalists want more stringent restrictions and reviews imposed on any new plants. Because the law has expired, no new plants (except those that were already in the pipeline) can be built.

"The thing to do is renew Article X immediately and get the energy industry interested in building new power in New York state again," Mills said. "The worst thing we can do at this point is to shut down Indian Point.

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