Assemblyman Scott Gray recently held two public forums to answer questions about the possibility of building the new nuclear power plant in the North Country. This is after this past June when Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she was working with the New York Power Authority to build a zero-emission nuclear power plant somewhere in Upstate New York.
According to North Country Public Radio, Gray has been advocating for the power plant to be built in the North Country, which led him to Jefferson Community College in Watertown on Nov. 12 and Clarkson University in Potsdam on Nov. 13 for open forums. The forums had panelists that included nuclear energy experts. However, NCPR reported that many local community members in attendance were left with additional questions after the panel.
The power plant is expected to produce one gigawatt of electricity which will make a step forward to New York State’s renewable energy goal which is to get 70% of electricity from renewable energy by 2030. However, according to an audit by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, there was “inadequate planning, monitoring and assessment of risks and challenges” in the Public Service Commission’s assessment.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, nuclear reactors, which are the machines that turn heat into electricity through the process of fission, generates about 20% of the electricity used in the U.S.
NYPA is currently accepting proposals for communities that are considering housing the power plant.
I live in Dutchess County in the lower Hudson Valley of NY. In my town, a 1.3 billion dollar natural gas fired steam turbine generating facility with 3 steam turbine generators was built a couple of years ago. This year, across the street, and huge substation was just finished for Con Ed’s transmission lines that run through our town. And just north of these 2 facilities is a huge solar farm. Our town has become a power haven for the future of electricity in NYS. The Cricket Valley Energy natural gas facility was built, along with 2vother similar facilities nearby, were built up replace the Indian Point Nuclear power plant as it has been shut down and is scheduled to be dismantled. In my opinion, solar and wind turbines are not going to be enough to completely power NYS’s demand for electricity if Governor Hochul “Going Green” scheme goes through. We cannot do without fossil fuels in this state to heat our homes, our water and to cook with. Going totally electric will cost the average household approximately $23,000 to convert ho.all electric in our homes and then we will all have higher electric bills on top of that. And then there’s the chance of power outages that could last for days. And with the fossil fuel ban, this of us with backup generators will not be able to use them. Elderly people and those of us on fixed incomes will not be able to afford to switch over to all electric and not be able to survive paying higher electric bills! We need fossil fuels to produce electricity. We have the technology to make existing coal fired power plants to be more cleaner to cug down on CO2 levels. Cricket Valley is one of the most modern natural gas power plants ever built and they have a clean emission rating that is one of the lowest in the state. We need nuclear, natural gas, coal ( if the facility is updated to burn cleaner ) and hydroelectric facilities to power this state. We will see major power outages if we go all electric. We will all see higher electric bills if we go all electric. Building contractors are already filing lawsuits against the state of NY as building all electric homes is increasing the cost of building these homes with all electric appliances and components. And even real estate agents arc already saying that many of these homes will never sell because of hbd increased body to buy and the increased cost of electricity to run these new homes. In 1986, a brand new modular home factory was built in my town. And 2 large housing developments were built next to it. All of the houses were provided by the factory and they were all electric. A few months after both developments were finished and people were moving in, many families were have fuel oil furnaces installed into their new homes because electric heat was not that great and it was too expensive to use. Now, I know technology has come a long way since then, but if all electric homes back in the 80′ did not go well, what makes NYS think they will now!!!