The New York Governors Cuomo, Governor Hochul, and the Environment. [View all]
The worst environmental act of my life took place on Long Island, where I participated in agitation against the Shoreham Nuclear Plant, which was completed but never operated commercially.
Mario Cuomo, governor of New York at the time, put together a "deal" by which the reactor would be decommissioned before it ever operated.
The issue that led to its demise, driven home by moron journalists, was that Long Island could not be evacuated during a nuclear meltdown.
The irony for me was that Long Island couldn't be evacuated during the extreme weather event represented by Hurricane Sandy. I had family members by marriage, who, as the water filled their house on the South Shore, huddled in their attic while water came up through the floorboards, but happily stopped before drowning them all.
Later, then Governor Andrew Cuomo, recently defeated for the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City, oversaw the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear facility, increasing the carbon output on the PJM grid. After it was recognized, by some people, that the decision to shut Indian Point was a decision to kill people, given the effects of extreme global heating, there was talk of reopening Indian Point. Unfortunately the plant's decommissioning was too far along for this to be an option.
Now we have this, Governor Hochul's proposal on nuclear energy: Governor Hochul Directs New York Power Authority to Develop a Zero-Emission Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology Power Plant
“As New York State electrifies its economy, deactivates aging fossil fuel power generation and continues to attract large manufacturers that create good-paying jobs, we must embrace an energy policy of abundance that centers on energy independence and supply chain security to ensure New York controls its energy future,” Governor Hochul said. “This is the second time during my administration that I am calling on the New York Power Authority to lead a critical energy initiative, and just as it is doing with the expedited buildout of renewable energy and transmission, it will now safely and rapidly deploy clean, reliable nuclear power for the benefit of all New Yorkers.”
As a result of economic growth and fossil fuel power plant retirements, New York needs new, clean electricity resources to meet growing power demand from new industrial development, building electrification and electric vehicles. The advanced nuclear plant will complement New York’s ongoing deployment of renewable energy by adding zero-emission baseload power, providing reliable and affordable clean energy to advance the State’s goal to achieve a clean energy economy.
NYPA, in coordination with the Department of Public Service (DPS), will seek to develop at least one new nuclear energy facility with a combined capacity of no less than one gigawatt of electricity, either alone or in partnership with private entities, to support the state's electric grid and the people and businesses that rely on it...
Better "way too late" than never.
A better outcome would have been for Shoreham to have operated its full life time, and for Indian Point to have continued operations, perhaps with refurbishment.
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