Indian Point and the dueling press releases
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- December
- 3
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Lt. Gov. David Paterson and Rep. Nita Lowey were among the bevy of elected officials who gathered in Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano’s office this morning to announce what’s already been known for weeks  that they would oppose the re-licensing of the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
But the event  and some behind-the-scenes activity â€â€Ã‚ may have also been an indicator of some testy relations between the governor’s office and Cuomo.
Specifically, the press conference, which Spano dubbed the longest of his 10-year tenure, announced that the state had filed legal papers to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking to stop the agency from granting new licenses to plant owner Entergy.
Cuomo, whose office is taking the lead in fighting the re-licensing, said the NRC has repeatedly ignored the dangers posed by Indian Point, especially its vulnerability to a terrorist attack. He also mocked the notion that the state needs the electricity produced by the plant, calling it “baloney.”
Curiously, though, Cuomo’s office and Spitzer’s office each issued their own, similar but not identical, press releases on the matter. Mostly, the press releases differed on the placement of certain quotes, with Cuomo’s release bumping Paterson’s statement to the bottom of a second page.
According to the rumblings that were going around the county office building today, the press releases were the source of a much disagreement between Cuomo’s office and Spitzer’s staff. The haggling, according to some county staff members, continued throughout the weekend.
When asked about the two press releases, Susan Tolchin, Spano’s chief advisor, coyly smiled and walked away.
For his part, Cuomo did not seem anxious to talk about the governor when questioned by a Journal News reporter after the press conference.
“I’ll buzz you back later,” Cuomo said before quickly getting into an elevator and leaving the county executive’s office.
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 3:07 pm by Glenn Blain.
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forgetting the animous that currently has to exist between
the governor and the AG the issue is energy..and the most
reliable source of energy is nuclear…in fact after 30
years the first permit to build a nuclear plant has
finally been issued…Do these pandering democrats
falling all overthemselves to cater to the anti nuclear
liberal democrats in westchester understand that
without the plant at Indian POint, the cost of energy
would be astronomical…The objective should be
to protect the plant from a terrorist attack not
to abolish it
I’ll buzz you; don’t buzz me.
“in fact after 30 years the first permit to build a nuclear plant has finally been issued”
not true, but thanks for playing. NRC just approved a SITE for a possible new reactor in Virginia, but has NOT approved construction or operation of any new nuclear plants. Three such applications have been received, but the reviews have barely begun.
Cuomo & Spitzer (or antinuclear members of their staff) have demanded NRC consider earthquakes, terrorism, and population density, and evacuation, in deciding whether to continue IPEC’s service to the region.
1)
Cuomo & Spitzer’s staff, blindered by getting all their information third hand, obviously are unaware of the huge technical investment in earthquake mitigation already pre-deployed at IPEC. Each and every physically constructed item was calculated seismically, and overbuilt to withstand both the earthquake primary waves, but also its amplified reflections, based on height and position. One never sees a simple water pipe at IPEC. Instead one sees a pipe within a massive array of concrete-embedded stanchions, each one possessing the correct safety margin, with all the pertinent calculations kept in the engineering database. The inservice inspection regime looks these items over periodically, and orders repairs or upgrades when needed.This entire regime is in the public domain, available for Cuomo/Spitzer perusal, but instead of knowing of its existence, the two “great men” get led by the nose into a factual blunder—-assuming none of it had been taken into consideration. This is typical of the level of error in the Cuomo filing. NRC need not re-consider earthquakes…. rather, it constantly considers earthquakes, and thus need not include it in license renewal. Cuomo/Spitzer’s reference to Kashiwazaki plant in Japan only reinforces what I write here. Kashiwazaki suffered no significant damage, even though many civilian buildings collapsed completely. Some barrels of radioactive waste stored out of doors, spilled. IPEC has no such barrels, so such a spill could not occur. The mention of Kashiwazaki belies a public relations mind set, where simply mentioning a news story, is thought to somehow be enough to govern the State of New York. Unfortunately, it is not.
2)
NRC has considered terrorism, and has hardened all 104 nuclear plants since 9/11/2001. NRC has not seen fit to share its exact preparations with the public for obvious reasons. Cuomo/Spitzer’s antinuke staff intentionally and maliciously misconstrues this reticence, and takes it upon themselves to dictate whatever ad-hoc preparations they have been handed from letters in the protest community, or tutored in by groups wanting IPEC closed. Because the protest groups have never defended a plant, have never run a security operation, and are purposely ignoring credible reassurances, they are prone to fanciful solutions to vague made-up problems, all of them simple straw men , set out to be knocked down, with the intent not of securing anything, but rather of closing the plant. I would tend to mistrust this kind of advice.
As for the airplane scenario….. because Rory Kennedy made a movie, is insufficient reason to povertize our region, and live underground. EPRI hired 4 widely respected civil engineering firms to scientifically calculate the airplane-on-dome impact. Without revealing particulars, the test says the dome survives, and the plane vaporizes. Do we credit Rory, or EPRI? Politically, it is our individuual choice, of course. Practically, I tend towards EPRI. Rory is just an artist, and had no factual basis for drawing her fear cartoon as she did.
3)
The consideration of population density is one that definitely trashes the Cuomo/Spitzer position, if taken seriously. The amount of people who would be impeded in their commutes, left without lights, forced into blackouts, made unemployed, left without heat, or without first responder protection, if Indian Point were removed from the local grid is much too large for Cuomo/Spitzer’s myopic planners to ignore.
But ignore them they have.
In the irresponsible world of protest, that is allowable, if not quite realistic. However, when taking a protest position, and lifting it up to be a governmental policy, all the missing considerations must be put back in the equation, or else the official holders of the position will be criminally liable for whatever harm they induce by not governing for everyone.
This is the case we see with the shallow, erronious, single-sided position taken by Cuomo’s staff. As far as population density…. please Mr. Attorney General, please Mr. Governor, consider the poor who will be left to fend with candles and kerosene heaters…. some of them burning down their homes (as we have seen recently). Consider the once-middle class, struggling with exploding tax rates, exploding electricity rates, and no wealth to fall back upon , as you have. Are we to be catapulted back into defacto lower-class poverty, because you failed to consider us? Us, the dense population you claim to want to help? Well then, help us. Abandon this one-sided protest philosophy and realize we need a government for all of us, and our infrastructure intact, or else you will create a small third world country out of New York State by your politically motivated mistakes. Doing it consciously, would be an unforgiveable sin.
4)
Evacuate?
There never has been a need to evacuate anyone from the vicinity of an American nuclear plant.
Will there never be a reason to evacuate? Most likely, no.
Dr. Herschel Spector, a top expert in evac planning, states that the area of concern, even in the worst credible case, would be an area of two miles. The two mile circle around Indian Point can quite easily be evacuated, even by walking, within an hour or two…Any residents further out, will never ever be reached by anything from the plant, even with the dome magically removed.
So where have we gotten the “50 mile circle of death” or whatever it is called? That bogus scenario is a product of the “Close Indian Point” propaganda machine. If you accept the “50 mile circle of death”, and believe it, then Indian Point may seem to be a danger. The volcano Krakatoa devastated a 200 mile area. Why not believe in a 200 mile circle of death?
But let us pose a question. Would it not be better to seek a way to both be safe, and to retain your green carbon-free infrastructure? Herschel Spector tells us everyone outside two miles can forget about Indian Point. The United States EPA advises even those inside the 2 mile circle TO SIMPLY GO INDOORS. If protection is attained by simply going indoors, what is Cuomo/Spitzer’s brief based upon?
Answer: It is based upon the exaggerations of protest propaganda.
Question: Ought the exaggerated positions of protest politics be used to run an entire state?
Answer: Only with the greatest trepidation.
Summary:
The consideration of evacuation has been skewed by vast overkill. No evac will ever be required, and then only a 2 mile evac. EPA advises going indoors (sheltering in place). Yes, the area’s roads need much improvement, No, they will never endanger anyone vis-a-vis an event at Indian Point.
Cuomo and Spitzer, in allowing themselves to be steered into partisan propaganda as state policy, have opened themselves to credible accusations of fascism. That is one of the textbook interpretations of the word, and New York will not do well under a regime of Eco-Nazis.
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Spitzer, Cuomo and Spano are ignoring science and fact – nuclear energy is BY FAR the safest, cleanest, and lowest cost form of base load electricity generation. Without Indian Point the State of New York can not hope to meet its obligations to citizens under the Northeast Greenhouse Gas Initiative to reduce emissions that cause global warming. Who are the REAL enviromentalists here?! Certainly not Elliot and the Andrews!
If danger area is only 2 miles Why are so many sirens required over such a large area?