INDIAN POINT
For many years the debate on Indian Point, the nuclear reactor and energy provider closest to New York City and located on the Hudson’s eastern shore in the Town of Cortlandt. It has been the source of jobs and taxes for the town and its hamlets for decades and jobs have gone from one generation to the next, keeping families close and providing security.
We all know now the plant will close. Rather than addressing the issues around that, some have used this as a political sledge hammer, not coming up with solutions to serious and ruinous problems, but making political hay off other peoples’ legitimate fears and anger.
There are no easy solutions to Indian Point, but there is a place to begin and that is with the current workers and the jobs that will be lost to future workers who would have taken their place. This is an ecosystem, providing jobs, takes, energy and a standard of living for tens of thousands of people, those who work in the facility and those who serve those people.
First, if there truly is going to be a tax on Westchester citizens (and others) in the state on our current energy costs to fund and sustain two nuclear plants upstate, our contributions should be put in a fund to be used to lessen the pain as the plant closes down and jobs and taxes are depleted. Some of those funds should also be used to help the union provide counseling, job and career training, entrepreneurial coaching and other programs to help people, while they are still working, stay on their feet. It should also fund start ups to keep the job growth moving in a positive way, not allowing for an economic downturn or plunge in property values and any dramatic increase in property taxes.
It will take time to close the facility, lock the gates and leave it like a giant sleeping beauty overlooking the Hudson, but programs, business development, a variety of incubators should be started now, today, so that the men and women of Indian Point are well on their way before one person’s job is lost, before there is any change to the tax base, or housing prices. The implementation of training and the startup of new enterprises should have started, can start quickly and funding should come from any energy tax put upon the downstate community, as we must take care of our neighbors, ensuring them a smooth transition. If the update nuclear plants are not viable, not self-sustaining, then the state has much bigger problems to face and needs to address those issues sooner rather than later. But for today, with proper planning and a clear course of action, there should be no pain and suffering in the communities who have benefitted for so long from Indian Point. It won’t happen with law suits and whining by politicians, it will happen if we collectively roll up our sleeves and get this work started.
Robert Kesten: Candidate NYS Senate District 40
