New York City is set to lose a quarter of its electricity supply by 2021, thanks to Gov. Cuomo’s deal to close the Indian Point nuclear plant.
When you’re cursing your even higher ConEd bill — or caught in a blackout, or out looking for a new job, thanks to the economic impact of this lunacy — know that you’re suffering to serve the gov’s ambitions.
If the city’s lucky, new natural-gas electric plants might open in time to replace the Indian Point generators, the first of which is to close in just three years.
Yet New York will still pay extra — because Cuomo already banned fracking in the state, aborting an Empire State industry.
The gov pretends Indian Point power can easily be replaced. Bull: One of his chief prospects, wind energy, is much more expensive and highly unreliable.
All this follows Cuomo’s other “energy plan,” which hikes fees on electric bills to bail out nuke plants upstate. Those plants would close without the subsidies because the US fracking revolution has made natural gas so cheap, pushing down electric costs across the nation.
Indian Point is marginally profitable for now, but its owner, Entergy, is sick of the added costs and uncertainty imposed by unending harassment from Cuomo and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“The extended legal battle lengthened Indian Point’s license-renewal from a typical 2 ¹/₂ years to 10 years, costing more than $200 million,” one Indian Point official told us. So Entergy agreed to an early shutdown in exchange for ending the harassment.
All this because Cuomo insists on pandering to ignorant fears about the Westchester nuclear plant — which in fact is utterly safe.
Indian Point’s closing will cost 1,000 workers their jobs, and local governments will lose tens of millions in taxes and fees. Local electric rates will be higher, and the power grid less reliable. CO2 emissions will rise, too, because fossil-fuel plants are the only realistic replacement for most of the juice.
Two new local gas plants are already coming online, and maybe enough other power can be found in time. But New York must import the fuel — thanks to Cuomo’s fracking ban.
Upstate, which desperately needs the economic boost, will continue to languish.
All to serve the political needs of Andrew Cuomo. For shame, governor — for shame.