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Riverkeeper Report Says Indian Point is Replaceable

BUCHANAN, N.Y. – A new study released by Riverkeeper, the Hudson River environmental advocacy group, says that power coming from Indian Point could be replaced by 2020, without disrupted energy reliability for the metropolitan area.

“We just think if we don’t need the power, why should we take the risk? Indian Point is a risk to the entire area. It seems like common sense to close it down,” said Phillip Musegass, Hudson River Program Director for Riverkeeper.

According to the study by Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Fund, there is an energy surplus in the metropolitan area, and with energy efficiencies and new energy generators, such as natural gas and wind power, the region won’t need new energy facilities to come online until 2020 to maintain reliability.

Other key findings in the report, “Indian Point Energy Center Nuclear Plant Retirement Analysis,” state that it’s possible New Yorkers could see only a 1 to 5 percent increase in their power bills, following the retirement of Indian Point, and that some of the measures needed to replace Indian Point’s power are already in the works.

“I think the key point for the public, when we looked at the cost impact, we found that the cost impact would be very modest,” said Musegaas.

A contrasting report commissioned by the New York City Department of Environmental Conservation placed rising energy rates significantly higher.

The “Indian Point Energy Center Retirement Analysis,” the report created by New York City, also states that reliability concerns could come as soon as summer 2016, the summer after the plants’ hypothetical retirement.

“When you weigh in the economic costs on high electricity rates and the impact of 1,100 people losing their jobs, $140 million in payroll, along with the significant environmental impacts of burning more natural gas in an area that already has poor air quality those are issues that need to be considered,” said Indian Point spokesman Jerry Nappi.

The nuclear power plants’ licenses expire in 2015, if not renewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Governor Andrea Cuomo has announced his opposition to the plants’ relicensing.

Indian Point has the capacity to generate 1,020 megawatts per power plant, for a total of 2,040 megawatts.

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