Op-Ed: Community Preps As Indian Point Closes Unit 2

by Supervisor Linda D. Puglisi, Town of Cortlandt; Mayor Theresa Knickerbocker, Village of Buchanan; and Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter, Hendrick Hudson School District

It has been three years and four months since the CEO of Entergy and the Governor of New York made the announcement that the operating nuclear plants II and III would close on April 20, 2020 (IP2) and next on April 30, 2021 (IP3). This announcement made on January 9, 2017 at their press conference caught us all off guard because we were not given any prior notification especially since we had just signed another ten year PILOT agreement with Entergy for tax revenue stabilization.

We went into action immediately to fully understand the challenges (revenue losses, jobs losses and remediation of the site) that were to come soon.

Action Steps:

1. Formed a Local task force of 20 people from our communities including officials from the Village, the Town and from the Hendrick Hudson School District, as well as, a representative of a new citizen group (Power thru Cortlandt), three local realtors, the director of the Hendrick Hudson Free Library, a Commissioner of the Verplanck Fire District, representatives of the trades/unions, and a few other residents, the President of our Montrose Business Association, and the Director of our Chamber of Commerce. Also, County and State elected officials were members. This task force has met regularly over the past three years having speakers from the NRC, DEC, Entergy, etc. explain to us exactly what the process would be and the time frame.
2. Collectively all of the entities in the jurisdiction of Indian Point will lose the following amount of tax revenue each year:
Hendrick Hudson Free Library $ 394,110. – 28% of annual budget
Verplanck Fire District $ 372,703. – 64% of annual budget
Town of Cortlandt $ 800,000. – 2% of annual budget
Village of Buchanan $ 3.5 million – 47% of annual budget
Westchester County $ 4 million – 1% of annual budget
Hendrick Hudson School District $ 24 million – 1/3 of annual budget
A total of approx. $32 million loss each year.
3. Our communities and region will lose approximately 1,000 good jobs, many reside in our area, once the plants close. It is uncertain whether the new owner, the decommissioning company will hire back any of these employees. Local small businesses will be impacted due to the employees at Entergy losing jobs.
4. The NRC informed all of us that the dismantling or decommissioning could take from 20 – 60 years at this 240 acre site of the three nuclear plants (IP 1 has been closed for decades).
5. The Mayor, School Superintendent and I have been members of the New York State task force and have participated in numerous interviews, editorial board meetings, press conferences and other meetings to disseminate information that we have learned about the closure of Indian Point. We also have gone to Albany to testify about our challenges.
6. We have lobbied the State and Federal government for funding assistance to offset our upcoming financial losses. To date there is no funding from the Federal government and limited funding to be shared with other municipalities (7) in New York State with closure of these energy plants. Congresswoman Lowey has several Bills pending to assist us. We will continue this lobbying effort.

Next Steps:

1. The Mayor established a new panel which we co-chair for the monitoring/oversight of the decommissioning and have appointed key representatives to serve on this committee from our community.
2. To continue to voice our concerns and to ask many questions of the decommissioning company, which is selected by Entergy and reviewed by the NRC and the State’s Department of Public Services. The current company under consideration selected by Entergy is Holtec.
3. We will continue to update our residents on these issues as they progress.
4. Also, the Town has retained an Economic Consultant to assist the Town and the Village to bring in more businesses and industry to offset the loss of tax revenue once Indian Point is closed. However, new revenue will not come near to making up for the loss of revenue from Entergy when they close their doors.

In conclusion, we knew these nuclear plants would close eventually but did not know they would this soon. However, we go forward and meet these challenges and plan together for our future.

MORE READING: 1st Shutdown Imminent At Indian Point