Reopening Indian Point nuclear plant will fix NYs surging energy costs, Lawler and Trump energy secretary tell Hochul

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — It’s the nuclear option.Republican Rep.Mike Lawler and US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright dramatically called on Gov.

Kathy Hochul to reopen the Indian Point nuclear plant Friday — a move they argued would reverse New Yorkers’ skyrocketing energy bills.The power pair used the shuttered plant sitting on the Hudson River as a backdrop for their argument that a “nuclear renaissance” could help ease a burgeoning energy crisis in the Empire State caused by an ill-thought-out turn toward green policies.“I’m calling for Indian Point to be rebuilt and reopened,” Lawler (R-Hudson Valley) said.“Hudson Valley families are being suffocated with rising energy costs, because of Governor Hochul’s failed and disastrous energy policies.

It is time to reverse course.”The closure of Indian Point in 2021 came under the watch of then-Gov.Andrew Cuomo, who also shepherded the passage of a controversial climate bill that set the state on a swift embrace of renewable energy.Lawler asserted that the needlessly punishing mandates sent New Yorkers’ home electrical bills soaring to 59% higher than the national average, and climbing.Many critics argued that decommissioning Indian Point — which provided about 25% of New York City’s electrical power with zero-emissions nuclear energy — ironically made the state turn toward natural gas that increased carbon emissions linked to climate change.“Nuclear power is the cleanest source of energy,” Wright said.“The Democrats want to talk about net-zero carbon emissions — this is it.


And they have a responsibility.If they are serious about bringing down costs, costs that they drove up, they have a responsibility to work with the administration, work with the local government to bring this back online.”Hochul herself has called the closure of Indian Point a mistake, especially without a “Plan B.”The governor, who is up for re-election in November, also has increasingly signaled she wa...