GOP Rep. Mike Lawler eyes nuclear power plant to tackle NYs sky-high electricity costs in clear split from Dem rival

The battle for this tossup New York House seat is going nuclear.Republican Hudson Valley Rep.

Mike Lawler is pitching a plan to reopen the Indian Point power plant in a bid to reverse New Yorkers’ skyrocketing energy bills.“The fact is, there’s no better-positioned site for energy generation in the Hudson Valley than Indian Point.The transmission lines are already built and sitting there idle,” Lawler told The Post in a recent interview.“That site supplied a quarter of this region’s power before Albany shut it down, and electricity costs have jumped 58 percent since then,” he said.

“New York should be leading on next-generation nuclear, and it should start right here at Indian Point.”The two-term congressman’s campaign slammed his Democratic rival, Cait Conley, for vehemently opposing reopening Indian Point, which closed in 2021 under then-Gov.Andrew Cuomo.“Cait Conley told a debate audience that Indian Point is ‘probably why I glow at night,’ and told a Sierra Club forum that reopening it is ‘dumb,’” said Lawler campaign spokesman Ciro Riccardi.“Hudson Valley families staring down electric bills that are up 58 percent aren’t laughing.”The mothballed plant, which provided 25% of New York City’s electricity with zero-emissions nuclear energy, is located along the Hudson River in the village of Buchanan in northern Westchester, part of the swing 17th House District.It’s closure coincided with Cuomo and Democrats in the state legislature approving a controversial climate change law that set the state on a swift embrace of renewable energy.

The law was scaled back by this year by Cuomo’s successor, Gov.Kathy Hochul, who feared the green energy mandates would trigger even higher costs as she seeks re-election in November.The Democrat, who was lieutenant governor when Indian Point closed, sought to distance herself from Cuomo’s decision, saying it was “done in haste.” But she opposes reopening a nuclear plant at the si...