| Pataki Says He
Remains Undecided on Indian Pt.
DIANE CARDWELL
New York Times
August 2, 2003
Gov. George E. Pataki said yesterday that he had not yet
reached a decision on whether the Indian Point nuclear power
plant should remain open, a debate that has been raging in
New York State for nearly two years.
The governor said The New York Times "had it wrong"
when it reported yesterday that his spokeswoman said he favored
keeping the plant open. Asked during a news conference whether
he had decided what the fate of the plant should be, Mr. Pataki
said, "No." He suggested that he was waiting for
answers from the Bush administration to questions about its
safety before he decided one way or the other.
"I'm saying that we have to have an answer to the questions
of safety," Mr. Pataki said when asked to clarify his
position on whether or not the plant should be closed. "We
haven't gotten those answers."
Those questions, a state official said, arise from the fact
that the federal guidelines used to develop the plant's evacuation
plan were conceived decades ago, and do not sufficiently take
into account an attack by terrorists. Officials say they have
been raising these issues with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
and the Federal Emergency Management Agency since at least
January, and Mr. Pataki said yesterday that he does not believe
they have been adequately addressed.
The governor made his remarks a day after a spokeswoman,
in a statement released in response to a question about the
governor's position on closing the plant, said that ideally
"the best long-term approach would be an eventual phase-out"
of the plant once a replacement energy source could be found.
The statement also said that "the plant's closure in
and of itself does not mitigate the risk posed by the spent
fuel rods, which would remain at the site."
Community advocates, elected officials, antinuclear groups
and homeowners have fought the plant, which sits along the
Hudson River about 35 miles north of Times Square, for years.
Their efforts were reinvigorated after Sept. 11, 2001, when
it was discovered that one of the hijacked planes had flown
near Indian Point on its way to Lower Manhattan.
Mr. Pataki, who does not have the authority to close the
plant, has avoided taking a position on the plant's immediate
future, but recently criticized the federal government's decision
to approve its emergency evacuation plan, citing a report
by a consultant he hired that deemed the plan inadequate.
The report, by James Lee Witt, a former director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, called for more planning to counter
a large release of radiation, a possibility in a terrorist
attack.
Yesterday, Mr. Pataki said, "To me there's one overriding
issue, and that is the issue of safety, and valid concerns
about the safety of the plant have been raised by me, by James
Lee Witt and by others. The N.R.C. just came out with a blanket
conclusion that the plans were acceptable. They did not respond
to those valid questions about the security and the safety
of the plant."
Later, he added, "They have to answer those questions
if the plant is to remain open."
A spokesman for the emergency management agency did not return
a call requesting comment. But the agency had written to the
governor that it planned to include a simulated terrorist
attack in the next emergency planning exercise, in mid-2004,
and offered to meet with him to discuss federal guidelines
for planning responses to terrorist threats.
Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat who
opposes the plant, said Mr. Pataki's statements have not reflected
his actions. "The governor should help us overturn the
federal government's support for the emergency plan,"
he said, adding, "and he should tell the truth that it
doesn't work."
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