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Congress member offers bills addressing economic issues around NY nuke closure

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Congress member offers bills addressing economic issues around NY nuke closure

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., has introduced legislation in Congress intended to address economic and environmental concerns associated with retirement of the roughly 2,000-MW Indian Point nuclear power plant north of New York City.

The next steps in advancing the legislation "are working to get more cosponsors and reaching out to the [U.S. House Energy and Commerce] committee for a hearing," Mike Burns, a spokesman for Lowey, said in an email Nov. 22.

Lowey, a ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, introduced three bills that "would help facilitate the continued safety and security of the Indian Point site" and establish a new funding source for the community to help maintain employment and support the tax base after the plant closes, she said in a statement Nov. 20.

Lowey; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; and environmental groups, including Riverkeeper, have pressed to close Indian Point on safety grounds for years because they found the risk of an accident in close proximity to New York City unacceptable. Other parties, however, have contended that closing the plant will put the reliability of the grid serving New York City at risk.

The Indian Point nuclear plant's owner, Entergy Corp., intends to close the facility's two operational reactors — Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3 — in 2020 and 2021, as part of a wider move to exit the merchant power business altogether. The plant is in the village of Buchanan in Westchester County, N.Y.

To assist state and local stakeholders in addressing problems surrounding the pending plant closure, Lowey introduced the following bills:

* Removing Nuclear Waste from our Communities Act (H.R. 4442): One of the primary Indian Point property redevelopment obstacles will be the dry casks that will remain on-site in the absence of a central nuclear waste repository. This bill would expedite the process to remove spent fuel rods from the plant site by allowing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license interim storage facilities elsewhere in the country and to prioritize the removal of nuclear waste from sites in densely populated areas such as the Lower Hudson Valley.

* Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act (H.R. 4441): This bill would maintain the NRC's emergency response and security requirements until all of the on-site spent fuel is moved into dry cask storage, which is the safest temporary way to store nuclear waste, according to the statement. This would ensure that spent fuel rods stored onsite at the closed facility remain safe and secure until a permanent repository for nuclear waste is operational.

* Redistribution of Fines to our Communities Act (H.R. 4440): Communities will need funding to help offset lower tax revenue when the plant closes. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy's enforcement program, it collects fines levied on plant owners for safety violations. This bill would redistribute safety-related fines to support the local tax base.

"The village of Buchanan faces a double hit with the closure of Indian Point," Mayor Theresa Knickerbocker said in the statement. "First, the loss of approximately 50 percent of our revenue, and, second, the indefinite storage of the spent fuel rods, which means that portion of the property will not be developed until they are removed."

Jared Anderson is a reporter for S&P Global Platts which, like S&P Global Market Intelligence, is owned by S&P Global Inc.