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​New York's plan to combat climate change still on track

The FitzPatrick nuclear power plant in Oswego
NRC
The FitzPatrick nuclear power plant in Oswego

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he’ll sign an executive order committing the state to meet the Paris climate accord standards, calling President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement “reckless” and “irresponsible.” And the governor says he’s joining with the governors of the states of California and Washington to form a coalition of states that are committed to upholding the Paris Accord.

New York state already has begun a plan to get 50 percent of the state’s energy from renewable sources, like wind and solar, by 2030. But it is not without some controversy.

Under Cuomo’s plan, begun in 2016, utilities and other energy suppliers will be required to buy renewable energy credits each year. The credits would be paid to solar and wind companies, which would eventually add new clean energy sources to the state’s electric grid. 

A major component of the plan, however, has been controversial — the continued operation of three upstate nuclear power plants that are nearly 50 years old.

Cuomo announced a deal last August to give those plants a $7.6 billion state aid package. In exchange, Exelon — the company that now owns all of the plants — agreed to drop closure threats to two of the nuclear reactors and keep them running for another 12 years.

“And keep this plant operating, and keep it producing nuclear power,” Cuomo told a cheering crowd of workers on Aug. 9. “For years and years to come.”

The governor spoke at the site of the FitzPatrick nuclear power plant in Oswego, where the previous owner also had said it would close the plant if the state did not step in. Cuomo said the deal would retain hundreds of high-paying jobs in an economically struggling area.

Cuomo administration officials also said it would be difficult to abruptly transition from oil and gas to cleaner fuels without a bridge fuel like nuclear power.

At a state Assembly hearing, the site manager of one of the three plants, the Ginna nuclear power plant near Rochester, agreed with the governor’s views. Joseph Pacher said local communities also would lose tax dollars now paid by the plants if they were to close.

“Not only would they lose the tax base, power prices would indeed go up if these units shut down,” Pacher said in March.

Opponents include environmental groups, as well as some national conservative organizations, who believe the bailout represents corporate welfare.

Blair Horner, with the progressive-leaning New York Public Interest Research Group, said the money could be better invested in renewable sources instead of waiting until later.

“It’s multi billions of dollars the state is going to spend to give to one company to keep Vietnam War-era power plants open for 12 years,” Horner said.

As of April 1, ratepayers are now charged a $2-a-month fee on their utility bills to finance the bailout. At an Assembly hearing in May, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who represents a low-income section of the Bronx, called it a “regressive tax.”

“It’s like regressive squared,” Dinowitz said.

When it comes to the other nuclear power plant in New York, which is in the downstate region, Cuomo has taken the opposite stance.

He is actively planning for the rapid closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, which is about 30 miles north of New York City and near Cuomo’s home in Westchester County. A 23-member closure task force formed under the governor’s Public Service Commission met for the first time May 31 to map out how to decommission the plant, which is slated for permanent closure in 2021.

The governor has said keeping the Indian Point plant open defies “basic sanity.”

Meanwhile, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is also decrying Trump’s decision.

DiNapoli said he’ll use his influence as trustee of New York’s $192 billion state pension fund to “seek out sustainable investments and changes in corporate behavior” to help the Paris agreement “become a reality.”

The comptroller said a lower carbon future is “is inevitable and is already underway.”

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau chief for the New York Public News Network, composed of a dozen newsrooms across the state. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.