Might as well throw away your computers. And Christmas lights. And electric heater. Because if Gov. Cuomo has his way, New Yorkers soon might not have the juice to run any of it.
On Tuesday, state officials actually took a step in that direction, ordering Con Ed and the New York Power Authority to come up with plans for closing the Indian Point nuclear power plant, as Cuomo wants.
Don’t be surprised if those plans call for New Yorkers to buy lots of warm coats and learn to live in the dark. Because replacing Indian Point’s 2,000 MW of power, used to light up roughly a quarter of New York City, will be near impossible.
Which raises the question: What on earth is Cuomo thinking?
First he places what is in effect (thanks to his endless delays) a permanent ban on fracking, a new natural-gas drilling process.
On Tuesday, officials filed for an extension (i.e., yet another 90-day delay) of the latest “deadline” for new fracking rules.
Even though the state has been “considering” those rules — and indeed whether to allow fracking at all — for years.
Anyone think when this latest “90-day period” is up, Cuomo won’t come up with some other excuse not to pull the trigger?
And now he’s targeting Indian Point.
It’s sheer folly.
Think about it: There’s really no practical way to shut down the Westchester plant and still ensure that New Yorkers have sufficient, reliable, clean, cheap energy.
Nuclear power, remember, is still the least expensive around; any substitute juice will surely cost more. It also spews out almost no emissions — unlike oil, coal or even natural gas. That should be important to Cuomo, if he believes curbing CO2 output is needed to slow global warming.
Besides, where is the replacement power to come from? Another generating plant or two? No community would approve it.
Imported from other regions? That wouldn’t be as reliable or cheap as local power — and communities aren’t any more likely to OK the necessary transmission lines than they are power plants.
And don’t believe all the fear-mongering hype that Indian Point poses a risk, a la Japan’s Fukushima disaster; countless studies have repeatedly confirmed that it’s safe.
No, shutting Indian Point makes little sense — unless the governor (with an eye, perhaps, on higher office?) is more concerned about his enviro cred than ensuring power for the state.
Sheesh. You’d think Cuomo would at least have the humility to look at what happened after his father, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, closed the Shoreham nuclear plant on Long Island more than two decades ago.
Today, Long Islanders pay some of the highest electric rates around.
Shoreham’s other legacy: the Long Island Power Authority. Care to ask Nassau and Suffolk residents how that’s been working out for them, particularly after Sandy?
Alas, Cuomo theoretically has the power to block Indian Point operations down the road. But if he does, New Yorkers might not have the power to turn on their lights.
Does the governor really want that?