Exclusive | Energy groups warn Hochul to restart Indian Point nuclear plant or the lights go out

Energy groups are pushing Gov.Kathy Hochul to restart Indian Point’s dormant nuclear reactors as part of a new ad blitz for “Climate Week.”The Democratic governor’s face will appear on a billboard on a truck alongside the message “open up Indian Point, or the heat goes out and the light goes out.”Westchester County’s Indian Point was closed in 2021 under former Gov.

Andrew Cuomo after years of pressure from anti-nuke activists and politicians who worried that its location just 40 miles out of Midtown would mean disaster in the case of a meltdown.But Hochul is leading an initiative to try boost New York’s low energy generation capacity by building new nuclear reactors as residents get zapped by ever-surging utility bills.“If Governor Hochul was sincere about jump-starting nuclear power to cut electricity prices, she would be pressing the Trump administration to expedite the recommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, where the extensive infrastructure needed is already in place,” said Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute.“But that is not what’s happening,” he added.“She is only sincere about her insincerity.”Hochul has called Cuomo’s move to close the Buchanan power plant a “mistake” — though she hasn’t entertained the possibility of reopening the facility.Indian Point produced roughly two gigawatts of energy before it was shuttered, which Hochul admits drove up demand on dirtier fossil fuel-burning power plants.“We lost 25% of New York City’s power when Indian Point shut down.

That’s something that was unforeseen,” Hochul, who served as lieutenant governor at the time of Indian Point’s closure, said on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” last week.“Nobody had a plan B.

What are you supposed to do for power the next day?”Incumbent Hudson Valley Rep.Mike Lawler (R-NY) has made refiring Indian Point part of his battleground reelection campaign against Democratic oppon...