{"id":155879,"date":"2026-03-07T00:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155879\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T00:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:59:09","slug":"reopening-indian-point-nuclear-plant-will-fix-nys-surging-energy-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155879\/","title":{"rendered":"Reopening Indian Point nuclear plant will fix NY’s surging energy costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

HUDSON VALLEY, NY \u2014 It\u2019s the nuclear option.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 a move they argued would reverse New Yorkers\u2019 skyrocketing energy bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The power pair used the shuttered plant sitting on the Hudson River as a backdrop for their argument that a \u201cnuclear renaissance\u201d could help ease a burgeoning energy crisis<\/a> in the Empire State caused by an ill-thought-out turn toward green policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m calling for Indian Point to be rebuilt and reopened,\u201d Lawler (R-Hudson Valley) said. <\/p>\n

\"USRep. Mike Lawler and energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday called to reopen the Indian Point nuclear plant. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cHudson Valley families are being suffocated with rising energy costs, because of Governor Hochul\u2019s failed and disastrous energy policies. It is time to reverse course.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Lawler asserted that the needlessly punishing mandates sent New Yorkers\u2019 home electrical bills soaring to 59% higher than the national average, and climbing.<\/p>\n

Many critics argued that decommissioning Indian Point \u2014 which provided about 25% of New York City\u2019s electrical power with zero-emissions nuclear energy \u2014 ironically made the state turn toward natural gas that increased carbon emissions linked to climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cNuclear power is the cleanest source of energy,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democrats want to talk about net-zero carbon emissions \u2014 this is it. \u2029And 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gov.Gov. Kathy Hochul has recently taken steps to slow New York\u2019s climate law. Hans Pennink<\/p>\n

Hochul herself has called the closure of Indian Point a mistake, especially without a \u201cPlan B.\u201d<\/p>\n

The governor, who is up for re-election in November, also has increasingly signaled she wants to delay the stringent mandates of the 2019 climate law, which requires 70% of electricity generated in the state be zero emissions by 2030<\/a>, and 100% green by 2040.<\/p>\n

She admitted those green goals can\u2019t be reached as large renewable energy projects fail to get off the ground \u2014 and has taken steps toward at least temporarily re-embracing fossil fuels, such as a natural gas pipeline off New York City\u2019s coast<\/a>, to forestall energy shortages and exorbitant costs for consumers.<\/p>\n

The Democratic gov\u2019s administration recently released a memo warning a cap-and-invest program designed to fulfill the law\u2019s emissions goals could make New York City households pay another $2,300 a year in natural gas costs, with upstate residences facing $4,300 in added annual bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to meet the goals on the time frame that was set by the legislature, there\u2019s going to be enormous cost to families,\u201d Hochul argued this week.<\/p>\n

Progressive lawmakers and environmentalists have decried Hochul\u2019s openness to forestalling the law, arguing that climate change is an existential threat to the plant that will cause much higher long-term costs of all types to New Yorkers and humanity.<\/p>\n

Lawler argued that Hochul, who is pushing to build a new nuclear plant upstate, should take the prospect of reopening Indian Point \u201cseriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

A reopened Indian Point would have all the latest safety features, said Kris Singh, CEO of Holtec International, which owns the plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be new nuclear, at the old plant,\u201d Singh said. \u201cWe are going to make numerous improvements, but it will be the same power output or maybe a little more, maybe 10% more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters of closing Indian Point argued that the plant roughly 25 miles from New York City could be a terrorism target or, at the very least, too close to the largest American city in case of a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HUDSON VALLEY, NY \u2014 It\u2019s the nuclear option. Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and US Secretary of Energy Chris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4759,4762,19475,3375,426,57,883,9,24,55,54,286,56,58],"class_list":["post-155879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-department-of-energy","tag-energy","tag-green-energy","tag-indian-point","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-mike-lawler","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-nuclear-power","tag-ny","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}