Future of Indian Point Nuclear Waste Site, Neighborhood, County: Officials

WHITE PLAINS, NY — The effect of Entergy's decision to close the Indian Point power plant is reverberating in northwest Westchester County, said officials gathered for a press conference Monday afternoon.

"I'm concerned about the taxes. I'm concerned about the lives of people. I'm concerned about the energy needs of this region," said County Executive Rob Astorino during the event.

The decision was announced Monday after secret negotiations between Entergy, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Riverkeeper, the Westchester-based environmental environmental organization were outed online Friday afternoon by the New York Times.

Since then, "the fear is really escalating in my neighborhood, in my district," said County Legislator John Testa (R-Peekskill).

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Astorino, Testa, Cortlandt Town Supervisor Linda Puglisi, Hendrick Hudson School District Supervisor Joseph Hochreiter and Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina called on the governor to quickly talk to them about mitigating the effects, not, as Astorino put it, "set a big dumpster fire and just walk away."

"I hope the governor is listening," said Hochreiter. "We're going to work hard to make sure the kids in our community are not impacted."

That's a big job, as Indian Point's property taxes account for one-third of the school district's annual tax revenues.

Given that Cuomo fought hard to keep nuclear power plants open in upstate New York, it was clear that this was about politics, Catalina said, adding he thought the governor's been pretty quiet about the controversial gas pipeline expansion in Cortlandt and the oil barge anchorage proposed just offshore. "The governor can say he's pro-business, he can run commercials, but I'm very disappointed in his actions here," he said.

Catalina also brought up one of the biggest concerns among local residents.

"I haven't heard anyone talking about what's going to happen at that site," he said, saying the comparison to the General Motors plant shutdown in Tarrytown was not comparable. "There, there are million-dollar condos going up now. Here, spent fuel rods."

The fuel rods from the three units at Indian Point will be stored in casks on site, Bill Mohl, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, said at Entergy's press conference this morning. Originally, they were supposed to go to Yucca Mountain, Mohl said — but the federal government had not kept its commitment to create a safe long-range facility for nuclear waste.

"There are three entities that will make out well: Riverkeeper, the governor and Entergy," said Astorino summed up. "The taxpayers will hold the bag for those three."

He predicted residents and businesses would be affected throughout Westchester County by rising prices for electricity. That's what happened to the rates in Long Island when the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant was fully shuttered in 1994, he said, "they went through the roof."

Image via Westchester County Government on Facebook