NY Objects to Indian Point Operation, Relicensing

The New York State Department of State has raised a new hurdle in Entergy’s quest to have Indian Point relicensed.

Entergy has told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it will operate Indian Point in consistency with New York’s Coastal Management Plan. It’s called consistency certification and it’s an essential part of the relicensing process.

Now the State Department has issued a formal objection, saying the renewal of the operating licenses for Units 2 and 3 would not comply with large chunks of the CMP.

As a result, Secretary of State Cesar Perales wrote to Entergy, ”the NRC is prohibited from relicensing the Indian Point facilities unless this objection is overruled by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.”

Entergy has 30 days to appeal.

The state’s move comes right before the NRC re-opens its hearing into the relicensing request.

And it comes just after Entergy announced it would close its nuclear power plant near Oswego, a move that infuriated Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who wants to keep it open and close Indian Point.

SEE:

• NRC Hearing on Indian Point Re-Starts Nov. 16
• Entergy to Close Nuclear Plant in Central NY

According to the letter from Perales to Entergy, the state finds the Oswego plant does operate in consistency with the Coastal Management Plan.

The state will be making its points in person at the hearing, which will be in Tarrytown, and is meant specifically to deal with concerns about Indian Point raised by the state and by environmental group Riverkeeper.

The Ossining-based environmental organization’s concerns form a lot of the basis for the Department of State’s objection, said Cliff Weathers, the group’s communications director, in a written statement that also said, in part:

As part of Entergy’s application review process, Riverkeeper filed its own comments with the DOS in 2013. In those comments, Riverkeeper discussed the numerous ways in which the continued operation of Indian Point would result in inconsistencies with the State’s coastal policies. Many of the reasons discussed and the evidence cited by Riverkeeper form the basis of the recent DOS decision.

Entergy filed an application for certification by the State in 2012, but despite this, the utility now claims that Indian Point is “grandfathered” out of needing a coastal consistency finding. This claim has since been litigated in State Courts. In 2014, despite the clear regulatory framework dictating the need for a coastal consistency determination, a NYS appellate court ruled that the plant is grandfathered in under the Coastal Management Plan, which protects wildlife habitat as well as recreational activities on the Hudson River, and need not obtain the certification. That decision has been appealed to the State’s highest court — the NYS Court of Appeals — which has agreed to hear the case. A decision is expected in 2016. Riverkeeper has intervened as a “friend of the court” and filed an amicus brief.

“This news is encouraging. We’re satisfied with the Department of State’s thorough evaluation of the impacts, and risks regarding Indian Point, and ultimate finding that a coastal consistency determination for the plant is simply inappropriate,” says Riverkeeper Staff Attorney Deborah Brancato. “This objection is tantamount to a denial, and we are confident that under the correct reading of the law, New York’s highest court should find that a Consistency Determination is necessary for relicensing, and that the department’s decision will stand.”