New York, NY – Today, dozens of environmental and consumer advocates rallied in front of Governor Kathy Hochul’s office to oppose nuclear power in New York. Food & Water Watch was joined by Citizen Action of New York, Reinvent Albany, NY Renews, NYPIRG, Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE), Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). The groups delivered thousands of public comments to Hochul’s office calling on her to abandon her costly and dangerous nuclear power schemes.

In June, the Hochul administration kicked off a process to approve billions of dollars in public money and ratepayer dollars for new nuclear power plants in New York. Nuclear power is the most expensive form of energy. It’s toxic and risky, generating huge quantities of hazardous waste and radioactive air pollution along with posing the threat of catastrophic accidents. With New Yorkers’ energy bills having already gone up by over 50% in the past five years, nuclear power continues to go against public interest as it vastly outpaces the costs of real renewable energy solutions. 

A letter was also submitted by Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, signed by 36 state legislators, also criticizing the public money that Hochul aims to spend on nuclear energy in this options paper. 

The public financial support proposed by the Hochul administration’s white paper includes a combination of raising our energy bills, providing taxpayer-funded construction grants, investing public money directly into nuclear reactors, and using public money to provide cost-overrun guarantees. No matter which options the PSC chooses, it amounts to the same thing: the public would pay to make the construction of nuclear plants affordable for the industry through grants and subsidies, and the public would take on the risk of the industry’s cost overruns.

“The Governor’s pursuit of a ‘nuclear backbone’ in New York will put communities at risk, put ratepayers and taxpayers on the hook for this radioactive legacy, and waste precious public resources that we need for truly clean energy like energy efficiency, wind, solar, and geothermal,” said Eric Weltman, a Senior Organizer with  Food & Water Watch.

“Nuclear power is the most expensive form of energy. It’s toxic and risky, generating huge quantities of hazardous waste and radioactive air pollution, harming Indigenous communities first and worst throughout. Today, thousands of New Yorkers have made their demands clear: the state must invest public dollars in solar, wind, thermal energy, and grid upgrades, not nuclear energy, in order to build out the clean and just energy and climate future we deserve,” said Ryan Madden, Indigenous Solidarity Director at NY Renews.

“New Yorkers need our governor to grow a backbone for affordable and healthy  energy, not chain us to her Frankenstein nuclear plan,” said Tim Judson, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service and a resident of Syracuse. “Gov. Hochul’s plan would force New York families and businesses to pay for gratuitously expensive, polluting, and dangerous nuclear power plants for decades to come. People in Georgia were socked with a 25% hike in electricity costs two years ago to pay for new nuclear power plants. Last year, 275,000 Georgia households had their power shut off because they couldn’t keep up with their electricity bills. We can’t let that happen here.”

“Electricity costs are already soaring in New York, and Governor Hochul’s nuclear plan will only make it worse,” said Andra Leimanis, Program Director at Alliance for a Green Economy. “Nuclear reactors are the most expensive way to produce electricity in the world, and take more than a decade to build. Governor Hochul is turning her back on the affordable and clean energy solutions we should be doubling down on right now. Instead, she wants us to pay billions of dollars for nuclear power plants that won’t provide electricity for over a decade. We say: ‘No to Nuclear — Yes to Renewables.’”

“It’s darkly ironic that just months ago Governor Hochul attacked our 2019 Climate Law under the guise of affordability, while today she continues to push forward with committing New York State to an enormous amount of new nuclear power with its enormous price tag. Governor Hochul should listen to the thousands of New Yorkers who spoke out against new nuclear during this public comment period, and she should correct course by doubling down on clean, affordable, renewable energy instead,” said Ethan Gormley, Legislative Coordinator, Citizen Action of New York. 

“New York must go forward with renewables. The choice between Nuclear Power and Fracking is like a choice between a Crystal Meth addiction and Heroin. Let’s choose good health for our environment and selves,” said Owl, a member of the Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation.

Hilary-Anne Coppola, organizer with Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, said, “The nuclear industry creates environmental injustice that hurts Indigenous communities at high rates. Nuclear reactors are not clean, green, or renewable- they poison the water, land, air, and our bodies. Kathy Hochul must stop bending to the demands of greedy corporations and must make decisions that protect the future of the next seven generations.”  

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