2020 Virtual Revival Environmental Action

With Indian Point 2 closing in April 2020, and IP-3 scheduled to close in April 2021, it is urgent that the NYS Legislature passes the NYS Decommissioning Oversight Board legislation (A.10236 / S.8154), which AM Sandy Galef and NYS Sen. Peter Harckham and others have introduced to create statewide boards to oversee the decommissioning of Indian Point, and later the reactors in western NY. 

This legislation would bring New York State agencies and community members to the table to oversee and monitor the decommissioning of any nuclear plant in the state.

Decommissioning is the dangerous and multifaceted process of deactivating and dismantling of a nuclear power plant, which requires decades of meticulous work to ensure it is done as safely as possible..  With so much at stake during decommissioning, NY State has a vested interest in ensuring that it is done carefully, efficiently, and completely. 

This is especially true because the company proposing to do the decommissioning, Holtec, is inexperienced and untrustworthy, with an extensively documented history of malfeasance, including lying to public officials, bribery and corruption. 

The NYS Attorney General’s Office and Riverkeeper have filed contentions intervening in their license transfer application, especially with a focus on the lack of financial surety Holtec’s limited liability corporations provide.  Holtec’s plan is to do quick and dirty decommissioning to keep any balance left in the Decommissioning Trust Fund and any other profit they can gain, at the expense of public health and safety.

The proposed Decommissioning Oversight Board, composed of state officials and experts in the field, will enable New York to monitor the decommissioning process in all of its complexity. The board will deal with key aspects of decommissioning, including legal, financial, environmental, and economic concerns.

This will allow the state to bring together the necessary resources and expertise to effectively oversee the decommissioning process. Not ew York State needs to pass legislation to empower Decommissioning Oversight Boards.

Background

Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is the first nuclear plant in New York State to close down and begin the process of decommissioning.  We need to be proactive and set a precedent for this process to ensure that it is done properly, in a way that protects the interests of the surrounding community, NY State taxpayers, and the environment.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) only oversees certain aspects of this process, but they have a long history of lax oversight. New York cannot rely on the NRC to oversee this process alone.

In order to protect the interests of the State and the host communities, State Senator Peter Harckham and Assemblymember Sandy Galef have proposed legislation to create an individual Decommissioning Oversight Board (DOB) for each NY nuclear plant at the time it announces its closure. [S8154/A10236, see links below]

The DOBs will be empowered to participate in the decommissioning process. A DOB will bring together representatives of the relevant state agencies, members from the impacted communities, labor representatives, etc. It will have the ability to hire independent experts and access financial and other documents, and it will have our best interests at heart.

This is an issue of importance to our entire State. If the companies responsible for this process are left to do as they please, we the taxpayers will be left holding the bag. We must be proactive in making sure decommissioning is done properly: that means strong oversight of the process.

Link to Assembly Bill, sponsored by AM Sandy Galef:  https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/a10236   Cosponsors now include AM Abinanti, Buchwald, Hunter, Jaffee, Johnson, Mosley, Sayegh and Seawright

Link to Senate Bill, sponsored by Sen. Peter Harckham; cosponsored by Senators David Carlucci, Jen Metzger, Liz Krueger and James Skoufis: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s8154 L