ML091410354
| ML091410354 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Indian Point  |
| Issue date: | 02/12/2009 |
| From: | NRC/EDO |
| To: | |
| References | |
| 73FR80440 00020 | |
| Download: ML091410354 (125) | |
Text
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR PROPOSED LICENSE RENEWAL OF INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR GENERATING UNIT NUMBERS 2 AND 3 Ac/ /~ Oval Ballroom The Colonial Terrace 119 Oregon Rd.
Cortlandt Manor, New York Thursday, February 12, 2009 1:30 p.m.
7]7 FACILITATOR:
C> -)
LANCE RAKOVAN H---
i - CD3 NRC STAFF PRESENTING:
DREW STUYVENBERG, Project Manager, Division of License Renewal BO PHAM, Environmental Review Branch Chief NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 SPEAKER PAGE 1 JOHN PARKER 16 2 DAN DURETT 20 3 RICARDO BYRD 23 4 ARTHUR KREMER 25 5 GEORGE MIRANDA 28 6 DEBORAH BRANCATO, ESQ. 30 7 MANNA GREENE 33 8 GEORGE OROS 36 9 VIRGINIA MONTAGUE 38 10 RICK MIRANDA 41 11 JIMMY SLEVIN 43 12 JOHN KELLY 46 13 AL SAMUELS 48 14 REV. JACQUES DEGRAFF 51 15 BILL HOHLFELD 55 16 JOANNE CAMPBELL 56 17 DARWIN DAVIS 58 18 FRANK GARCIA 60 19 REGINALD BOWMAN 61 20 SHARONEE PERRY 64 21 JOHN MATTIS 66 22 REV. DR. CHERYL ANTHONY 68 23 MAYOR AL DONAHUE 70 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 SPEAKER PAGE I REV. GEORGE ROBESON SMITH 74 2 BILL MOONEY 77 3 PAUL VITALE 78 4 CAROL SMITH 80 5 JOHN MCCORMICK 82 6 PETER WOLF 85 7 ANDREW FRAISER 89 8 PETER POCKRISS 91 9 ANDREA SHERMAN 93 10 JUDY ALLEN 95 11 JOHN FEDERSPIEL 97 12 BETTY CYPSER 99 13 VALERY KARAMATY 100 14 RAGING GRANNIES 101 15 JOHN YANOFSKY 103 16 DR. DANIEL MCCANN 105 17 BRIAN SKANES 108 18 MICHEL LEE 109 19 TERRY KARDOS ill 20 SUSAN SHAPIRO 113 21 MARK JACOBS 117,>
22 JOHN SULLIVAN 120 23 NANCY BURTON 121 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 (1:32 p.m.)
3 MR. RAKOVAN: Good afternoon, everyone. My name 4 is Lance Rakovan. I'm a Communication Specialist at the 5 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, and it's my 6 pleasure to facilitate today's meeting. In that 7 capacity, I'm going to try to do my best to make sure 8 that the meeting runs well and that that everybody gets 9 something out of it. The purpose of today's meeting is 10 to receive your comments on the Draft Supplemental 11 Environmental Impact Statement, or DSEIS, as you'll hear 12 it called this afternoon, for the proposed license 13 renewal of the Indian Point Nuclear Generation Units 14 Number 2 and 3. The meeting will essentially have two 15 parts.
16 First, we're going to hear a short presentation 17 from Drew Stuyvenberg on the DSEIS. There were copies of 18 the presentation on the sign-in table when you came in, 19 but in case you didn't get a copy, I will run some of 20 those around as soon as I'm done with my opening 21 comments. We've tried to keep his presentation very 22 short and focused on high-level information so we can get 23 to the real reason that we're here today and that's to 24 listen to you. There were yellow and blue cards on the 25 registration table outside and we ask that if you hadn't NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 1 reregistered to speak that you fill out one of the yellow 2 cards. I've got in large stack of the yellow cards and I 3 also have a large number of people that pre-registered.
4 So, due to the great number of people that we have 5 signed-up to talk, I'm going to ask that when you do come 6 up and use the microphone, you keep your comments to 7 about three minutes or less. We hate to enforce this 8 kind of limit, but we do have so many people signed-up to 9 talk that we want to try to give everyone a chance to 10 speak.
11 Due to the high number of people that we do 12 have signed-up, it's possible that we might not be able 13 to get to everybody, but please remember that this is not 14 the only way that you can provide your comments. Drew's 15 going to be going through the other ways you can do so, 16 but you can hand me a written statement today and we'll 17 put it directly into the transcript. You can send your 18 comments in electronically. Again, Drew will be going 19 through the ways that you can do that.
20 We are transcribing tonight's meeting to make 21 sure that we fully capture the comments that we do get.
22 You can help us keep a clean transcript by making sure 23 that use the microphone up here when you speak, keeping 24 side conversations/inside noise to a minimum and, if you 25 could, when you first start speaking, identify yourself NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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6 1 and any group you're with so we make sure that we know 2 who's speaking in terms of the transcript. You can also 3 help us make sure that there is fewer distractions by 4 silencing or putting on vibrate any cell phones or other 5 electronic devices that you have at this point.
6 One other item is that we're hoping that you 7 picked up when you came in is a public meeting feedback 8 form. If you fill that out, you can give that to any of 9 us here that are with the NRC or you can drop in the mail 10 at the end of the meeting. Postage is free. That just 11 kind of gives you a chance to give us an idea of how we 12 did here today and any way that we can improve upon our 13 meetings in the future. Please keep in mind that we are 14 here to receive your comments today. We're going to be 15 responding to any comments you make tonight at the end of 16 the comment period. We'll publish those responses as 17 part of the final environmental statement.
18 The goal of today's meeting is not to reach 19 consensus. You're bound to hear some opinions that you 20 don't necessarily agree with, but we ask that you give 21 the respect to the person who has the floor that you 22 yourself would expect. For those of you who do have the 23 signs, we appreciate your passion, but we do ask that you 24 keep them fairly low so that the people behind you can 25 continue to see whoever is speaking. A few people that I NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 1 want to point out before we move on: Sam Lee is our 2 Deputy Director, Division of License Renewal at the NRC.
3 Mel Grey is one of our Branch Chiefs in our Regional 4 Office near Philadelphia. Bo Pham is a Branch Chief for 5 our Environmental Reviews. Dave Wrona is one of our 6 Branch Chiefs, as well, in Projects and Neil Sheehan, who 7 I think is still in the room, is our Public Affairs 8 Officer. So, with that, I'm going to go ahead and turn 9 it over to Drew to give a short presentation and I'll be 10 back and we'll start bringing you up here to speak. Drew 11 12 MR. STUYVENBERG: All right. First of all, Lisa 13 could you move that forward two slides, please. There 14 you go. Excellent. Thank you all. As Lance noted, my 15 name is Drew Stuyvenberg and I am a project manager in 16 the Division of License Renewal. Today, I'm going to 17 give you the results of NRC's review of site-specific 18 issues related to the proposed license renewal of Indian 19 Point Units 2 and 3. I'm going to be as brief as I can.
20 Many of you who I've spoken with on the phone or 21 corresponded with over e-mail have signed-up to provide 22 comments on the site-specific draft supplement today.
23 So, briefly, next slide please -- The NRC was 24 established to regulate civilian uses of nuclear material 25 including applications that produce electric power like NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 1 Indian Point 2 and 3. NRC conducts license renewal for 2 plants whose owners wish to operate them beyond their 3 initial license period. NRC license renewal reviews 4 address safety issues related to managing the effects of 5 aging, as well as environmental issues related to 20 6 years of operation, an additional 20 years of operation, 7 and any major refurbishment activities that the 8 owner/operator may undertake during or in preparation for 9 an additional 20 years of operation. In all aspects of 10 the NRC's regulation, the NRC's mission is threefold: to 11 ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, 12 to promote the common defense and security and to protect 13 the environment. Next slide please.
14 We are here today to discuss the potential 15 site-specific environmental impacts of license renewal 16 for Indian Point Units 2 and 3. The site specific 17 findings are contained in the Draft Supplemental 18 Environmental Impact Statement that the NRC published on 19 December 22nd of last year. This document contains 20 analyses of all applicable site-specific issues, as well 21 as reviews of issues common to many or all nuclear power 22 plants that the NRC staff first addressed in the Generic 23 Environmental Impact Statement, in order to determine 24 whether the conclusions in the Generic Environmental 25 Impact Statement are still valid for Indian Point Units 2 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 1 and 3. In this process, the NRC staff also reviews the 2 environmental impacts of potential alternatives to 3 license renewal in order to determine whether the impacts 4 expected from license renewal are unreasonable. Next 5 slide please.
6 This slide lists the site-specific issues that 7 the NRC staff reviewed for the continued operation of 8 Indian Point Units 2 and 3 during the proposed license 9 renewal period, including potential impacts from possible 10 reactor vessel-head and control-rod drive mechanisms 11 replacements. The first set of issues relates to Indian 12 Point's cooling system. As you likely know, Indian Point 13 Units 2 and 3 withdraw cooling water from the Hudson 14 River and return it heated to the river. The NRC staff 15 determined that the cooling system affects aquatic life 16 by pulling small organisms through the plant called 17 entrainment, by pinning them against plant intake 18 structures called impingement and by returning water to 19 the Hudson that is significantly warmer than it was when 20 the plant returned it called heat shock.
21 The NRC staff evaluated impingement and 22 entrainment jointly and found that impacts could range 23 from small to large depending on the species affected.
24 Some data used for these impact assessment date to when 25 previous owners stopped measuring impingement and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 entrainment by or before 1990. Heat shock impacts range 2 from small to moderate due to results of modeling 3 conducted for New York state permits. The only other 4 preliminary finding greater than small is for the 5 threatened and endangered species, specifically to short-6 nosed sturgeon. Given a lack of recent monitoring data 7 and indications in other studies, the short-nosed 8 sturgeon appears to have been affected by Indian Point 9 prior to installations of traveling screens and a fish 10 return. The staff's preliminary conclusion is that other 11 site-specific issues considered for license renewal are 12 small. Next slide.
13 As I mentioned earlier, NRC staff review issues 14 common to other power plants, to all or most other power 15 plants, during license renewal in order to be sure that 16 the assessments received in Generic Environmental Impact 17 Statement are still valid. Radiological impacts are an 18 example of such an issue. To confirm that radiological 1.9 impact findings in the GEIS are valid for Indian Point 20 Units 2 and 3, NRC staff reviewed a variety of sources 21 including past NRC inspection reports, State of New York 22 assessments and reports from Entergy.
23 NRC staff looked at how the plants gaseous and 24 liquid effluents are controlled, treated, monitored and 25 released, as well how solid radioactive wastes are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 1 handled, packaged and shipped. During this time, the NRC 2 staff reviewed the large volume of information available 3 on leakage from spent-fuel pools to groundwater and 4 incorporated the results from previous NRC inspections.
5 Based on our review of the data, we found that the 6 calculated radiological dose to the public is a fraction 7 of the NRC's radiation protection limits. Next slide 8 please.
9 When reviewing the potential impacts of license 10 renewal on the environment, NRC staff also looked at the 11 effect on the environment from other past, present and 12 future reasonably foreseeable human actions. The NRC 13 staff preliminarily concluded that there are large 14 cumulative impacts on aquatic resources due to factors 15 like water withdrawals, invasive and nuisance species, 16 potential habitat loss, climate change and increased 17 human populations with their associated development.
18 Similarly, past and continued development in the region 19 contributed to large cumulative impacts on terrestrial 20 resources. NRC staff also determined that cumulative 21 impacts to socio-economics could also be large as the 22 region has developed and will continue to develop over 23 time.
24 In other areas the NRC considered, staff 25 preliminarily concluded that cumulative impacts are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 1 small. Next slide. A major step in determining whether 2 license renewal is reasonable or not, is comparing the 3 likely impacts of license renewal with the likely impacts 4 of alternatives to license renewal.
5 In the draft supplement, NRC staff considered 6 two different sets of alternatives. One set of 7 alternatives was based on changes to the Indian Point 8 cooling system like those proposed in the New York 9 State's 2003 Draft Water Discharge permit, which is 10 currently under adjudication. These include converting
-11 the plant to closed-cycle cooling using cooling towers or 12 instituting a combination of changes with potentially 13 similar effect. In this case, a proposed option 14 including modifying plant intakes as well as restoring 15 wetlands in the area or other aquatic habitat to make up 16 for aquatic life killed by the plant's operations.
17 The second set of alternatives staff considered 18 include other ways to generate electricity or replace the 19 power generated by Indian Point. These include coal-20 fired generation, gas-fired generation and two 21 combinations of alternatives that included wind, 22 conservation, biomass and continued operation of one of 23 the two Indian Point units. Finally, the NRC staff 24 considered what would happen if no action is taken and 25 the Indian Point units shut down at the end of their NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 licenses without a specific replacement alternative. In 2 general, the NRC staff found that cooling system 3 alternatives would reduce impacts to aquatic resources, 4 but increase impacts to other aspects of the environment 5 like land-based resources. The staff also found that 6 impacts from energy alternatives would vary widely across 7 the various alternatives based on characteristics of 8 those alternatives. But in most cases, construction of 9 new facilities created significant impacts. Next slide.
10 Based on the staff's review of likely 11 environmental impacts from license renewal, as well as 12 potential environmental impacts from alternatives to 13 license renewal, the NRC staff's preliminary 14 recommendation in the DSEIS is that the environmental 15 impacts of license renewal are not so great the license 16 renewal would be unreasonable. Next slide please.
17 The environmental review, however, is not yet 18 completed. Your comments today and all written comments 19 received by the end of the comment period on March 18th 20 will be considered by the NRC staff as we develop the 21 final SEIS, which we plan to issue in February of 2010.
22 The final SEIS will contain the staff's final 23 recommendation on the acceptability of license renewal 24 based on the work we've already performed and the input 25 we receive in the form of comments during the comment NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 1 period. Your comments can help to change the staff's 2 findings in the final SEIS. Next slide please. As many 3 of you know, I'm the primary contact for the 4 environmental review. My colleague Kim Green is the 5 primary contact for the safety review. As most of you 6 know, this is all in your packets, so you don't need to 7 write anything down. Hardcopies of the SEIS are 8 available in the entryway, as are copies on CD-ROM.
9 In addition, three local libraries have agreed 10 to make hardcopies available for your inspection and you 11 can find electronic copies of the Draft SEIS on our web 12 site. Next slide please. NRC staff will address written 13 comments in the same way we address spoken comments that 14 we receive today. To submit written comments, you can 15 send them to NRC via e-mail or by conventional, mail. You 16 can also drop them off in-person if you wanted. If you 17 have written comments this evening, you can give them too 18 any of the NRC staff members you see around, me included, 19 or Lance, who's facilitating, or any of us with an NRC 20 name card on. So with that, I'm going to turn it back 21 over to Lance and he'll start the public comment portion 22 of this meeting. Thank you for your time.
23 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you, Drew. Okay, we had a 24 large number of people pre-register for the meeting and 25 then we also had a lot of people who filled out the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 1 yellow cards. So what I'm going to do is ask everyone to 2 try to keep your comments very brief so we have at least 3 a chance to get everyone through. I can't guarantee that 4 everyone who signed-up is going to have a chance to speak 5 though, unfortunately, due to the large number of people 6 who signed-up. We do have until about 4:30 or so, so we 7 do have a number of hours to get through comments.
8 If somebody who has spoken before you has 9 essentially said what you've like to say, you can 10 definitely come up here and say, you know what he said I 11 completely agree with that or refer back to what they 12 said. Please keep in mind that, as Drew said, this is 13 not the only way that you can get your comments in. You 14 can hand us a written statement here today. I already 15 have a number that I have given directly to our 16 transcriber or you can use any of the other ways that we 17 have here up on the screen right now. So, I'm going to 18 ask to keep your comments to three minutes. I brought 19 with me an old-school timer somewhere that I'm going to 20 try to use, so I will probably give you a bit of a 21 warning as you're getting close and then once you get to 22 about three minutes, I'm going to ask you to wrap it up.
23 Again, just so we can get through the number of 24 people that we have and try to give everyone a chance to 25 speak. I'm going to go ahead and go with the list. I'm NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 1 going to start with the people who pre-registered for 2 today's meeting. I will let you know at least a few 3 people in advance as to who I'm going to ask to come up, 4 so that you have a chance to prepare. So the first three 5 speakers, we're going to start with John Parker from the 6 New York State Executive Agencies, then go to Thomas 7 Clegg from Entergy and Dan Durett from the Center for 8 Environment Commerce and Energy. So, if we could start 9 with John, please.
10 MR. PARKER: Thank you, Lance. Good afternoon 11 everyone. My name is John Parker and I am the regional 12 attorney for the Department of Environmental Conservation 13 Region 3. I'm here today in my official capacity 14 representing the executive agencies of the State of New 15 York. I wanted to welcome the NRC, NRC staff, the 16 applicant, local residents and others to our wonderful 17 lower Hudson Valley region. We appreciate the 18 opportunity to present to the NRC our comments on 19 Supplement-38 to the Generic Environmental Impact 20 Statement. We will submit more detailed written comments 21 by the close of the comment period on March 1 8 th*
22 There has never been a complete and thorough 23 environmental review of Indian Point, even though 24 environmental reviews are routinely done on applications 25 like this one. The State of New York has and will NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 1 continue to participate in this process, but the draft is 2 inadequate, incomplete and reaches the wrong conclusion 3 preliminarily. There's a commitment by New York to bring 4 renewable energy and energy conservation measures to the 5 forefront of a sustainable energy future. These efforts 6 are part of the state's action to reduce climate change 7 impacts. Yet this review today remains in many ways 8 isolated from all of the change going on around it.
9 We call upon NRC to do a full and thorough 10 environmental review required by law as this process 11 moves from a draft to a final stage. On balance, the 12 state is convinced that a full and complete record will 13 lead to only one conclusion about the environmental 14 impacts of this facility. The Draft Supplemental EIS, 15 which has been issued by NRC ostensibly to fulfill its 16 obligations underneath NEPA, which is the National 17 Environmental Policy Act, that requires the government to 18 look at the environmental impact of the decisions before 19 it makes them. Now, Indian Point is a nuclear generating 20 facility, as we all know. The license is for an 21 additional 20 years. But let's look at the environmental 22 impacts.
23 In the process of generating electricity, 24 Indian Point consumes 2.5 billion gallons of Hudson River 25 water each day. This process has significant impacts and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 kills billions of fish and other aquatic organisms each 2 year in addition to numerous other impacts. The Draft 3 Supplemental EIS, as we've learned, concludes 4 preliminarily that the environmental impacts would not 5 preclude a 20-year extension. This Supplemental EIS 6 accepts significant environmental impacts as quote 7 unavoidable. We do not accept this premise nor that they 8 are inevitable.
9 The Department of Environmental Conservation, 10 or DEC, commented on the scope in the fall of 2007, and 11 we submitted detailed written comments in October of 2007 12 as well. These comments raised several environmental 13 issues that are not addressed in a December 2008 draft 14 that we are to talk about today. Turning to some of 15 those issues. New York raised the category of aquatic 16 ecology. As you've heard: entrainment, impingement and 17 thermal impacts to the Hudson River. The NRC's analyses 18 of these impacts undermines its conclusions. We have 19 many questions regarding these analyses, including 20 whether the data reviewed were analyzed correctly.
21 Whether the data support the conclusions reached.
22 Whether the conclusions that the NRC reached our 23 consistent with state and federal standards for the 24 Hudson. And importantly, whether these conclusions are 25 consistent with parallel proceedings before our agency, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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19 1 DEC.
2 MR. RAKOVAN: Mr. Parker, if you can summarize, 3 please. I'm sorry.
4 MR. PARKER: Okay. I do show -- it's difficult 5 for multiple agencies.
6 MR. RAKOVAN: I understand, but I've got a lot 7 of people who want to speak.
8 MR. PARKER: I have about -- OK. Additional 9 issues which we have a concern with are endangered 10 species, the socioeconomic impacts, historical impacts, 11 impacts of the coastal zone, which we feel are not 12 adequately addressed. We also have concerns about the 13 generic nature of the review and the failure to address 14 site specific issues such as the evacuation planning, 15 seismic earthquake hazards, possibility of terrorist 16 attacks and long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. In 17 conclusion, there is nothing inevitable or unavoidable 18 about the environmental impacts of the operation of 19 Indian Point.
20 The Draft SEIS review inadequately addresses 21 many of the environmental issues that the NRC is 22 obligated to analyze and assess. Yet despite these 23 shortcomings, or perhaps because of them, the Supplement 24 concludes that the current level of environmental impacts 25 do not need to be altered or changed and that these NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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20 1 impacts should not serve as impediment to license 2 renewal. We disagree and note that the NRC's conclusions 3 do not address issues raised by the State of New York in 4 its scoping process. Thank you.
5 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you. Okay, if we can have 6 Thomas Clegg of Entergy. Next we'll go to Dan Durett and 7 then third to Ricardo Byrd. Mr. Clegg? Is Tom Clegg 8 from Entergy here? Okay, we'll go ahead and go to Dan 9 Durett then for the Center for Environment Commerce and 10 Energy.
11 MR. DURETT: Good afternoon. I would first like 12 to thank the commission for holding this hearing, one on 13 the birth date of Abraham Lincoln and equally and more 14 importantly, during this month of Black history. For 15 those who do not know the significance of that, then 16 please reach out to a person of color and they will 17 explain it. I only have three minutes. My name is Dan 18 Durett. I am the Director of the African American 19 Environmentalists Association, heading up the office in 20 New York.
21 We are an organization dedicated to protecting 22 the environment and enhancing human, animal and plant 23 ecologies and promoting the efficient use of natural 24 resources. We include an African American point of view 25 in environmental policy decision-making, and in resolving NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 1 environmental racism and injustice issues through the 2 application of practical environmental solutions. So you 3 see, this is not only a significant hearing, but indeed, 4 a continuation of the voicing of environmental 5 perspectives from people of color. We support, let it be 6 known clearly, that we support the 20-year license 7 renewal for Indian Point. We expressed public support 8 for nuclear power for the first time in 2001 after a two-9 year internal process of studying and debating the issue.
10 AAEA was the first environmental organization to support 11 nuclear power.
12 I am a veteran environmentalist with 34-years 13 experience working on environmental and energy issues.
14 my comments today address this Draft Generic Impact 15 Statement. But again, we are here to look at the 16 continued operation of Indian Point. Our members in New 17 York breathe the air in a clean-air non-attainment area.
18 Of particular import to our members is the promotion of 19 clean air in African-American communities. Because 20 nuclear power is emission free and has a demonstrated 21 safety record, whereas fossil fuel power contributes to 22 numerous health issues, AAEA New York seeks to promote 23 the safe use of nuclear power and we support Indian Point 24 2 and 3 facilities. These facilities provide significant 25 electrical capacity to the State of New York with minimal NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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22 1 human and other impacts.
2 MR. RAKOVAN: If you could please close.
3 MR. DURETT: I'll close with this then. You 4 have copies of my statement. 40-years ago or during the 5 '60's, there was a particular phrase that rang across 6 this country and it started with a sign like this and it 7 said power to the people. As you think about Indian 8 Point and the continued operation, it is the power of 9 that point, of Indian Point, that gives power to the 10 people. It is looking at the alternatives and what would 11 happen if the plant was closed and the adverse impact on 12 communities of color. We support the license renewal for 13 Indian Point because this facility will continue to 14 provide alternative solutions and advance the 15 participation of people of color in the decision-making 16 process. We started in 2001 looking at this issue and 17 here we are in 2008 still saying let's keep this plant 18 operating so that our communities can have the benefit of 19 clean-air. I hope I'm under my three minutes.
20 MR. RAKOVAN: No, but that's okay. Thank you 21 for concluding. Next, we'll go to Ricardo Byrd from the 22 National Association for Neighborhoods, Arthur Kremer and 23 then George Miranda. And again, please keep in mind, you 24 can refer to a previous speaker or you can give us your 25 written comments.
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23 1 MR. BYRD: Good afternoon. My name is Ricardo 2 Byrd. I am the executive director of the National 3 Association of Neighborhoods. NAN is one of America's 4 oldest and largest grassroots multi-issue membership 5 organizations. Our mission is to improve the quality of 6 life in America's neighborhoods. Working together with 7 our member organizations, we strive to improve the 8 economic, social, environment, health and safety 9 conditions in neighborhoods.
10 The National Association of Neighborhoods is 11 here today supporting the of Indian Point Energy Center 12 because the center generates reliable, affordable and 13 clean electric power. We are not experts in the 14 generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.
15 However, our members are expert electric rate payers.
16 Business and residential consumers of electric power.
17 People in homes and small businesses across the state are 18 plugging more and more electric devices into outlets to 19 the point where it is hard to find a home or small 20 business that is not running out of outlets. And if the 21 United States Congress has its way, sooner then later, we 22 will all be plugging in every new car and truck into the 23 outlets outside our homes. The decision that will be 24 made regarding the Indian Point Energy Center has huge 25 economic and social consequences for all of New York's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 1 neighborhoods and businesses. Because of our interest in 2 climate change and energy issues, it was important that 3 our Association see a nuclear plant up close and we chose 4 Indian Point.
5 We also brought together six national Black 6 associations of grassroot advocates, print media and 7 elected officials to tour Indian Point Center. The 8 purpose of the tour was to see a plant in operation and 9 talk with the operators. What we saw was a well-10 maintained facility and an operational team that was 11 focused on their duties and responsibilities in 12 generating power with strict security and safety 13 protocols. In our candid discussions with plant 14 managers, they admitted to having some issues and they 15 were working to improve them. Never being satisfied that 16 they had done enough.
17 I am certain that there are people here today 18 that are advocates for shutting down all nuclear power 19 plants, but the question we must ask in making that 20 decision is, if IPEC was shut down, what would be the 21 consequences? None of us can be certain, however, of 22 what will happen. According to a study published by the 23 Westchester Business Council, within five years 24 electrical cost would raise annually by $1500 for the 25 average Westchester resident and $10,000 for the average NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 1 Westchester small business. These price spikes would be 2 even more dramatic in New York City where electric prices 3 are higher. In closing, Barak Obama has stated in 4 working with the United States Congress words that apply 5 to this important decision. Do not let the perfect 6 become the enemy of the good. Closing IPEC has the 7 potential to disproportionately affect the economic and 8 social health of New York. On behalf of our membership 9 and the residents of neighborhoods in New York and across 10 the country, the National Association of Neighborhoods 11 urges the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to renew the IPEC 12 license.
13 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you, sir. We'll go now to 14 Arthur Kremer from AREA, after that George Miranda and 15 Phil Musegaas. And if we can keep that backdoor closed 16 please. Thank you.
17 MR. KREMER: Thank you very much. Again, we'd 18 like to thank the commission for holding these hearings.
19 On behalf of the New York Affordable Reliable Energy 20 Alliance, I'm here as chair to voice the views of our 21 hundred members plus for the continued operation of 22 Indian Point Energy Center. We represent business 23 groups, labor unions, an array of community organizations 24 throughout the Hudson Valley and New York City. I served 25 in the New York State legislature for 23 years. I was NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 1 the author of the original Power Plant Siting law, which 2 there is none today, because it lapsed some years ago.
3 According to the NRC, this hearing is designed to give 4 members of the public the issue to raise environmental 5 issues that you should consider. There is a lot of 6 factors that you're going to take into account, but I 7 think one of them clearly is air quality. To understand 8 the gravity of the air quality situation in this region, 9 one need only look at the United States Environmental 10 Protection Agency scorecard on air quality.
11 The following areas in New York State are in 12 violation of federal ozone standards, as well as federal 13 standards for particulate matter: the five boroughs of 14 New York City, Long Island, three counties of the lower 15 Hudson Valley, including Westchester, Putnam and 16 Rockland. Dutchess and Orange County are also in 17 v iolation of federal ozone standards. The American Lung 18 Association's 2007 report shows New York's air quality 19 continuing to worsen with the New York area continuing to 20 be a dangerous place to breathe the air for thousands and 21 thousands of asthma sufferers along with others who are 22 respiratory illnesses.
23 The fact of the matter is that without Indian 24 Point, our air quality would continue to erode and more 25 people would suffer. The continued licensing of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 1 Indian Point Energy Center may be the difference between 2 dark skies or cleaner air for the entire downstate 3 regions. New York's air quality in this area is now 4 considered one of the worst in the nation. If you 5 eliminate a non-polluting plant like Indian Point and 6 replace it with many new fossil fuel burning facilities, 7 it could be the tipping point to an environmental 8 disaster.
9 We understand that one of the alternatives that 10 you talked about in your preliminary study is, can we 11 replace Indian Point with power generated from wind or 12 solar panels. These renewable forms of energy are 13 certainly an important aspect of our energy portfolio.
14 But let's think of it. They are not base-load power 15 sources. In other words, they don't generate electricity 16 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Solar gives us 17 electricity when the sun is out. Not in this region.
18 Wind power plants are the standard base-load sources of 19 electricity, but this is not a region where the wind 20 constantly blows. For example, the mass transit system 21 of New York City or hospitals and emergency rooms and 22 sporting arenas cannot wait for the wind to blow or the 23 sun to shine. They need power on demand and they need it 24 now and Indian Point provides that for them.
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28 1 base-load power is the fact that it doesn't emit harmful 2 pollutants like nitric oxide and sulfur dioxide. So we 3 would urge you in your consideration of factors as to 4 whether the environmental impact of Indian Point Energy 5 Center is: We need the 2000 megawatts. There's no 6 rational environmental alternative. We need this plant 7 for another 20 years.
8 MR. RAKOVAN: OK. Next we'll go to George 9 Miranda, President IBT Joint Council-16. Then to Philip 10 Musegaas from Riverkeeper and third to Joseph Mangano, 11 sorry, the Radiation and Public Health Project.
12 MR. MIRANDA: Good afternoon. My name is George 13 Miranda. I'm the president of New York Teamsters Joint 14 Council-16. The Teamsters Joint Council-16, along with 15 its 120,000 working men and women in the greater New York 16 area, strongly supports the of the Indian Point Energy 17 Center. Our members work at Indian Point and live in the 18 surrounding neighborhoods with their families of Indian 19 Point. Teamsters Joint Council-16 believe that this 20 plant is 100% safe. Re-licensing Indian Point Energy 21 Center is the right move for New York's union workers.
22 Outside of it being the backbone of the downstate regions 23 clean and affordable electricity supply, Indian Point 24 employs thousands of highly skilled workers, including 25 hundreds of unionized workers. In addition to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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29 1 scientists, physicists, security and maintenance 2 personnel employed at the plant, there are hundreds of 3 thousands of workers throughout the region who rely on 4 the Indian Point's continued operation for their survival 5 and financial survival. At a time when New Yorkers are 6 struggling and experts predict that the loss of 220,000 7 jobs in the state over the next two years, now is not the 8 time to drive working men and women to the unemployment 9 lines.
10 Indian Point remaining open and operational is 11 also a necessary component to creating a prosperous green 12 energy economy. Through our years of work, the Teamsters 13 Joint Council-16 and other unions have shown unwavering 14 dedication to building a socially, economically and 15 environmentally just New York City. We have worked to 16 accomplish this by building new power plants. The 17 construction of which creates new jobs, drives the cost 18 of energy down and pumps millions of dollars into local 19 economies.
20 As the government now looks for ways to 21 stimulate our sagging economy, we should encourage 22 considerable investments in new power plants and other 23 clean energy technology. New Yorkers are now faced with 24 a harsh reality. Governor Patterson and state leaders 25 have reached a deal that would cut $1.6 billion in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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30 1 spending from critical priorities, including healthcare, 2 education, human services and economic development. In 3 New York City, where the collapse of the financial sector 4 has caused a $4 billion shortfall, workers are faced with 5 budget cuts totaling hundreds of millions and reduced 6 services and fare hikes on mass transit. In light of 7 these depression like numbers, the Teamsters believe we 8 should be protecting the jobs provided and created by 9 Indian Point, not eliminating them. Thank you for 10 allowing me the opportunity to address this public forum 11 on the concerns of union workers across New York City.
12 The labor community believes that closing down a vital 13 source of clean and affordable energy like Indian Point 14 will jeopardize -jobs and drain millions from local 15 governments. It is the hope of unionized men and women 16 across the region that we work together to produce a 17 solution that not only protects jobs and encourages 18 investment, but also ensures a continuous supply of 19 clean, safe and affordable energy for all of New Yorkers.
20 Thank you.
21 MR. RAKOVAN: OK. Philip Musegaas for 22 Riverkeeper or a substitute, if you could introduce 23 yourself. Then we'll go to Joseph Mangano and Michael 24 Carriere.
25 MS. BRANCATO: Hello everyone. My name is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1 Deborah Brancato. I'm a staff attorney for Riverkeeper.
2 We will be submitting detailed written comment on the 3 Draft Environmental Impact Statement, but for today I 4 just want to highlight some of the major concerns 5 Riverkeeper sees with the NRC staffs analysis of the 6 environmental impacts of relicensing.
7 To begin with, the NRC has completely failed to 8 assess the impacts of nuclear waste storage at Indian 9 Point. Currently, Indian Point houses 1500 tons of 10 nuclear waste on site in pools and in dry-cask storage.
11 If the plant is relicensed for an additional 20 years, at 12 least an additional 1000 tons will accumulate. The Draft 13 Environmental Impact Statement has no analysis whatsoever 14 of a long-term impacts of storing all of this waste on 15 site. Security issues continue to evade any kind of 16 site-specific review. Including the vulnerability of the 17 pools and the dry-casks to terrorist attacks or natural 18 disasters. Given that only last week there was an 19 earthquake that registered a magnitude of 3 in New Jersey 20 right near the Ramapo seismic zone and the Ramapo fault-21 line does run directly underneath Indian Point, it is 22 truly incumbent upon the NRC to provide an analysis of 23 whether the dry-casks and the pools are designed so that 24 they would be able to withstand such natural occurrences 25 or intentional attacks.
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32 1 In addition, we take issue with the NRC staffs 2 analysis of the ongoing leaking that is going on from the 3 spent fuel pools. The Unit 1 pools and the Unit 2 pools 4 have been leaking radioactive materials into the 5 groundwater which leaches into the Hudson River for years 6 now. The NRC has concluded in the Environmental Impact 7 Statement that these impacts are not significant. We do 8 not believe they have done a complete analysis. They 9 have merely looked at imminent public health impacts and 10 really have not done any analysis whatsoever of the long-11 term impacts to the groundwater into the Hudson River 12 ecosystem.
13 In addition to their complete failure to 14 adequately look at nuclear waste storage issues, we also 15 take issue with the NRC's analysis of aquatic impacts due 16 to the once-through cooling system. This cooling system 17 slaughters billions of fish eggs and larvae every year 18 contributing to the overall decline in fish species 19 populations in the Hudson River. And yet the NRC is only 20 able to come to the conclusion of large impact as to one 21 species in the river and that's bluefish. We believe 22 based on current data and analyses that a finding of 23 large impacts is warranted across the board for species 24 in the Hudson River. Of particular concern is the NRC's 25 lack of definitive conclusion as to the impacts to the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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33 1 endangered species of short-nosed sturgeon, which there's 2 no data showing that they aren't impinged against the 3 cooling water intake screens and yet the NRC has failed 4 to come to any definitive conclusion as to the impacts to 5 that species. So, those are all the remarks I'll provide 6 today. Again, Riverkeeper will be providing detailed 7 written comments by the March 18th deadline and in 8 conclusion we do not agree with the NRC with the overall 9 conclusion that the impacts of relicensing will be not so 10 significant in the future. Thank you.
11 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you for your comments. If 12 we could go next to -- I was told that Joseph Mangano has 13 stepped out, so Manna Jo Greene is going to take his 14 place. Then we'll go to Michael Carriere and Jeff Tkacs.
15 MS. GREENE: My name is Manna Greene and I am 16 the environmental director for Hudson River Sloop 17 Clearwater. We are very concerned about the potential 18 health effects. The Draft Supplemental Environmental 19 Impact Statement issued by the Nuclear Regulatory staff 20 on the relicensing of Indian Point Units 2 and 3 21 concludes that Indian Point poses no significant public 22 health risk. But data, and this was in Joe's report, Joe 23 Mangano's report, data just released by the New York 24 State Department of Health shows that thyroid cancer 25 rates in the four counties closest to Indian Point are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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34 1 nearly double the U.S. average and that childhood cancer 2 is also above the national rate. Rockland, Orange, 3 Putnam and Westchester Counties in particular. Rockland, 4 Orange and Putnam, are all surrounding Indian Point, have 5 the first, second and third highest thyroid cancer rates 6 from 2001 to 2004. That is higher than all of the 62 7 counties in New York State. Westchester was eighth.
8 In addition, a recent study by the Mother's 9 Milk Project shows that 30 milk samples from breast-10 feeding mothers and goats that happened to be within 50 11 miles of Indian Point all reveal levels of Strontium-90 12 and the closer you are to the plant the higher the 13 levels. Together these suggest that the emissions from 14 Indian Point may be compromising the health of local 15 residents. We also think that there are environmental 16 justice impacts that the SDEIS dismisses. Specifically, 17 disproportionate impacts upon minority or low income 18 communities including impacts on families of subsistence 19 fishermen who catch fish and crabs that contain traces of 20 Strontium-90 and other isotopes. They call this 21 insignificant.
22 In the GEIS, the generic, done in 1996 for all 23 nuclear power plants, these impacts were considered to be 24 small. The SDEIS focuses on the additional impacts from 25 the planned releases in discharges at Indian Point under NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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35 1 normal operations and also from the leaks of radioactive 2 isotopes that were discovered and are specific to Indian 3 Point. While NRC sees these as small and of no 4 significance, we are not convinced. We believe that this 5 additional burden of radioactivity places at risk the 6 people who are eating and catching fish. Impacts on the 7 proposed Rockland County desalination plant. It is only 8 proposed, but it will take seven and a half million 9 gallons of water out of the Hudson River for drinking 10 water for Rockland County.
11 Also, we think that it underestimates the 12 sustainable energy alternatives that are coming on board 13 very quickly. Are much cleaner and do not require 14 replacement by fossil fuel. We agree with Riverkeeper 15 about the impact on fish and we are very, very concerned 16 about the narrowing of the relicensing process in which 17 things like whether or not the plant could actually be 18 evacuated in the event of an accident or an incident at 19 Indian Point. We don't think there's a viable evacuation 20 plan but that is not allowed to be considered in the 21 relicensing. So we have grave concerns about that. We 22 will submit full comments by March 15th. Thank you.
23 MR. RAKOVAN: Next, I have Michael Carriere from 24 Painters District Council-9. And let me formally 25 apologize for slaughtering all the names that I'm NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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36 1 slaughtering this afternoon. Jeff Tkacs from the town of 2 Cortland is here, but he said that he has heard enough 3 opinions that matches his own and he's going to step 4 down. So then we'll go to George Oros from the 5 Westchester County Board of Legislators and Rick Miranda 6 from the Brooklyn Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Is 7 Michael Carriere here? Again apologizing for the 8 slaughtering of names.
9 MR.OROS: Mine's easy. It's Soros without the 10 'S' or the billions. My name is George Oros. I'm a 11 member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. I 12 represent the people that live in the shadow of Indian 13 Point. The people of Buchanan, Cortland, Northern 14 Yorktown and Peekskill. And it's ironic to me, as I 15 often argue at my colleagues down-county how those of us 16 who live closest to the plant have the least amount of 17 alarm and concern. And that's probably because those of 18 us that live closest, know the most about the plant and 19 how it operates. One of the things I think has to be 20 brought into mind, in addition to how this plant curbs 21 the carbon emissions, how it's clean energy, how it 22 provides the energy for about 21% of the region's needs.
23 Beyond all of that there's another factor. This plant is 24 a major employer of the people that live in my 25 legislative district. In addition, it is the largest NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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37 1 taxpayer to the school district, to the village of 2 Buchanan, and believe it or not, this plant pays 1% of 3 Westchester Counties property taxes. At a time when the 4 economy is hurting, when the people I represent are 5 hurting, we cannot afford to overlook that. You know, a 6 few years ago there was a resolution passed by our Board 7 of Legislators about Indian Point and the relicensing.
8 But I would hope that those that want to use that as some 9 sort of hammer to try to what prevent the relicensing 10 read it carefully. Because that resolution is 11 conditioned, very specifically, upon three things 12 happening.
13 One of them is someone's going to have to 14 replace the amount of tax dollars that this plant pays 15 before it could close or not be relicensed. Secondly, 16 hire the 900 people. Find them good meaningful jobs that 17 are going to support their families and third replace all 18 of the energy that this plant produces. I don't believe 19 any of those three criteria can be met in the next decade 20 and therefore I don't see how, if you just consider those 21 factors and all the other factors, this plant cannot be 22 relicensed. I'm sure the NRC, I'm sure the operators of 23 this plant, I'm sure the State of New York, the local 24 officials here in the county will do all they can to make 25 sure that this plant is safe. That it is operated NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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38 1 properly. I think that with all of those safeguards in 2 place, the relicensing is something that we would all 3 support here locally. So with that, I want to thank you 4 for the opportunity to address you. I've never done this 5 before, by the way, but I get a little tired of hearing 6 the people out there who don't live in our community and 7 they come to this community. We are in a community here, 8 where we live very peacefully with Indian Point and 9 appreciate what it does for our community. Thank you.
10 MR. RAKOVAN: The next three names that I have 11 are Rick Miranda from the Brooklyn Hispanic Chamber of 12 Commerce, Virginia Montague and then Jimmy Slevin. So, 13 if a Rick Miranda is here. Is that a hand up in the back 14 that you're Rick Miranda, sir?
15 MR. MIRANDA: Yes.
16 MR. RAKOVAN: Do you want to wait and then let 17 someone speak while you prepare?
18 MR. MIRANDA: Yes.
19 MR. RAKOVAN: OK, we'll bring him back, but 20 first we'll go to Virginia Montague. So, we'll go to 21 Virginia and then we'll let Rick speak and then we'll go 22 to Jimmy Slevin.
23 MS. MONTAGUE: Good afternoon. Again, my name 24 is Virginia Montague and I'm president of the New York 25 Coalition of 100 Black Women. I'm here not necessarily NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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39 1 as a representative speaking on behalf of the 2 organization, but in our name its black women. We are 3 advocates for black women, their children and their 4 families. I am also here to give rise, to give voice to 5 those who have woefully, we believe, under-represented in 6 this ongoing debate and that is the children and families 7 of Harlem. On behalf of these two Harlem constituencies, 8 and children and families throughout New York City, 9 communities of color, I stand here today in support of 10 re-licensing Indian Point Energy Center. I would like to 11 first put a face on these consumers of this energy.
12 We've already experienced a lifetime of bad 13 environmental decisions and cannot withstand additional 14 threats to our health and safety. Harlem is already home 15 to one-third of Manhattan's eight bus depots, one of the 16 two sewage treatment plants and both a garbage truck 17 depot and parking lot. There are seven local truck 18 routes from 96th St. to 125th St. alone. An estimated 19 25% of the thousands of trucks running through Harlem 20 each day violate state emission standards. In addition, 21 in nearby Bronx and Queens, there's an extremely high 22 concentration of fossil fuel burning power plants, which 23 pollute our neighborhoods with carbon dioxide and other 24 pollutants.
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40 1 neighborhoods have received no reassurance that any power 2 plant built to replace Indian Point, will not once again 3 end up in or near our neighborhood. These environmental 4 policies of the past have already taken a severe toll and 5 Harlem has had one of the highest asthma rates in the 6 country with one in four children suffering from the 7 disease.
8 In addition, asthma causes more hospitalization 9 among Harlem children than any other disease and is among 10 the leading cause of missed school days. The picture 11 becomes even more bleaker when we realize that asthma is 12 also one of the leading causes of death among our 13 children. It is clear that continuing down a path where 14 public policy places further air polluting power plants 15 in our neighborhoods cannot and will not be allowed.
16 Although the youth of Harlem faces a myriad of 17 challenges, we must also remember that single women with 18 children in Harlem also deserve a voice in this debate.
19 The impact of higher priced fuel and energy has pushed 20 poor families led by single women with children to the 21 brink. Harlem families are spending and increased amount 22 of their income to keep pace with rising energy costs.
23 Whether it's through high home heating oil 24 bills, which this year estimated to reach $2000 a year, 25 to electricity bills, which this year jumped 58% over NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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41 1 last year. We find more poor families are having to 2 choose between which bills to pay and have little left 3 over for educating their children, health care or even 4 savings accounts. It is not just in the form of 5 increased heating oil and electric bills that poor 6 families pay for high energy costs, these families are 7 hit once again at the supermarket, the laundromat and 8 even transit. But when subway and bus fares increase, in 9 communities where 38% of the familes live below, the 10 energy cost remains stable. So we believe shutting down 11 Indian Point Energy Center without viable and reliable 12 energy production already in place will cause energy 13 prices to soar and place these already at risk families 14 into further jeopardy. Again, we do indeed support the 15 re-licensing of this energy plant.
16 MR. RAKOVAN: OK, Rick Miranda from the Brooklyn 17 Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is prepared and then we'll 18 go to Jimmy Slevin from Utility Workers Local-i and 2 and 19 then to John Kelly.
20 MR. MIRANDA: Good afternoon, my name is Rick 21 Miranda and as president and CEO of the Brooklyn Hispanic 22 Chamber of Commerce, I rise today in support of the 23 Indian Point Energy Center. Simply put, re-licensing 24 Indian Point Energy Center is the right move for Brooklyn 25 businesses. Our current economic downturn, poses a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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42 1 difficult challenge for business owners. Brooklyn's 2 unemployment rate of 7.4% outpaces Manhattan, Queens and 3 Staten Island and is at its highest level in five years.
4 Revenues for half of Brooklyn's businesses were flat or 5 down last year when compared to 2007.
6 Today, research shows more small business 7 owners sense a bleak outlook for 2009 with roughly half 8 saying they've been adversely affected by the sour credit 9 markets. In light of these depression type numbers, the 10 last hurdle we should place in front the business owners 11 is the real possibility of higher energy prices. A 12 recent survey ranked energy prices second behind 13 providing affordable health insurance as the most severe 14 problem Brooklyn businesses are facing. And make no 15 mistake about it, closing Indian Point Energy Center 16 would lead to drastic spikes in energy prices for 17 Brooklyn business owners.
18 New York currently has the highest energy 19 prices in the nation and independent reports have 20 concluded that those prices could increase by over 21 $10,000 a year for businesses if Indian Point is closed.
22 Business owner's should be spending to expand their 23 markets, not to satisfy a volatile energy market. In 24 these uncertain times, we cannot foster a welcoming 25 business climate, where mom and pop stores, young NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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43 1 entrepreneurs and family-run businesses are forced to 2 spend precious dollars just to turn the lights on.
3 Unstable energy prices also jeopardize our organization's 4 mission of advancing the civic, commercial and industrial 5 interest of Brooklyn's Hispanic business owners.
6 Creating an environment where Hispanic business owners 7 can succeed is a key goal of our organization and 8 therefore we must prevent the further energy cost 9 increase.
10 Recognizing these goals, it is essential that 11 the Indian Point Energy Center be re-licensed. We are 12 grateful for the opportunity to address this public 13 forum. We are hopeful that the concerns of the Hispanic 14 business owners in Brooklyn are granted their rightful 15 voice at the decision-making place. We urge cooperation 16 by all parties who are served by Indian Point. It is our 17 hope that we could all work together toward a solution 18 that provides reliable stream of clean energy power for 19 all New Yorkers. Thank you very much.
20 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, I'd like to go to Jimmy 21 Slevin, Utility Workers Local-l & 2, then to John Kelly 22 and third to Al Samuels from the Rockland Business 23 Association.
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44 1 Workers Local 1-2. Thank you for letting me appear 2 before you today. Local 1-2 of the UWA, which the union 3 represents most of the workers at Indian Point, is 4 therefore on the frontline of the debate before you 5 today.
6 we are in the best position to contribute the 7 information on the subject of most relevance to the 8 commission. Indian Point is safe. If we had any reason 9 to believe not, we would not let our members work there.
10 Our members cannot only attest to the fact that the 11 commitment to safety operations, but are an intricate 12 part of the team that makes the facility safe. The 13 unparalleled record of plant safety is something we are 14 proud of.
15 As residents of this area and as involved 16 citizens, we are very much concerned with the physical 17 and economic health of the community. Indian Point 18 produces 2000 Mw of electricity, and that represents 19 about 20 to 40% of the needs of this region. Cutting off 20 this substantial and vital supply of power would be a 21 body-blow to the economic health and personal well-being 22 of every citizen. This amount of energy could not be 23 replaced. New construction of fossil power is not 24 feasible in the views of the prevailing environmental 25 concerns and other time-consuming obstacles in their NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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45 1 construction. Green energy sources have not reached the 2 levels of viability that allows us to rely on them in 3 immediate or foreseeable future. Nuclear power is here 4 and it is environmentally clean. Unlike fossil power, it 5 does not contribute to the greenhouse effects or global 6 warming. It does not release harmful carbon emissions 7 into the atmosphere as fossil plants do. What it does is 8 provide us with an inexpensive and safe electrical power.
9 We were told in the recent past that with one of these 10 onsets of deregulation and the unleashing of market 11 forces in the power generation industry, there would be a 12 glut of low-cost energy capacity for all classes of 13 consumers. Deregulation has passed, but the promise 14 results never followed.
15 How could anyone with the best interest of the 16 community in mind, now demand the elimination of 2000 Mw 17 of vital need power without the remote practical 18 expectation that it will be replaced in our lifetime.
19 Even if it could be, the cost would be unimaginable. We 20 refuse to play either the blame game or engage in scare 21 tactics, but let's be realistic, Indian Point has been a 22 mass of this community and region. Those who would not 23 merely tamper with its function should think long and 24 hard about what it would do to them because it would be 25 extremely unwisely counterproductive and blatant NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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46 1 destruction to deny the re-licensing of Indian Point. I 2 thank you again for the opportunity to share my views.
3 Indian Point is a good neighbor. Indian Point is good for 4 the environment and Indian Point deserves to be re-5 licensed.
6 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, next we'll go to John Kelly, 7 them to an Al Samuels and then to Jacques Degraff.
8 MR. KELLY: Good afternoon, my name is John 9 Kelly. I am the retired director of licensing for 10 Entergy's Northeast operations and had directly worked 11 with the Indian Point plants during my career starting in 12 1970. I moved to this region, living less than 4 miles 13 from the plant in 1971. I have raised my children there.
14 I still live there. I know the plants are safe. I'm 15 addressing a few points in the EIS however. The 16 deterioration of air quality in the lower Hudson Valley, 17 which has been by others, that would be caused by the 18 shutdown of the Indian Point plants is not adequately 19 addressed by the EIS. I'm page 2-29 of the EIS, you note 20 that 22 counties with a total population of more than 16 21 million people within 50 miles of IPEC are in the non-22 attainment status for compliance with Clean Air Act 23 requirements for ozone. 19 of those counties are also in 24 non-compliance with PM-2.5 particulates and one of those 25 counties, New York County or Manhattan Island, is also in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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47 1 non-compliance with the PM-10 particulates. On page 8-40 2 of the EIS, you conclude that the impact on air quality 3 of IPEC shutdown and replacement with a state-of-the-art 4 fossil plant would be moderate.
5 On page 8-42, you conclude that the impact on 6 human health would be moderate from this additional air 7 pollution. How many people would be sickened and die 8 because of this moderate impact on human health by 9 closing Indian Point. In an analysis performed in 2002 10 and provided to you on the docket, I've provided an 11 additional copy with these comments to you today, showed 12 the generation replacement power for a shutdown of IPEC 13 coming from existing plants running at higher capacities 14 would result in substantially more air pollution than you 15 analyzed in you or EIS. This is much more likely to 16 happen in construction of new plants in this area. How 17 much more of a human health impact would this have? It's 18 not addressed at this point in time in the EIS. Your EIS 19 does not adequately address the air quality deterioration 20 and negative human health effects of shutdown of IPEC.
21 On page 8-42 of the EIS, you conclude that the 22 long-term socioeconomic impact of shutdown of IPEC would 23 be small to moderate. NEI published a report titled 24 "Economic Benefits of IPEC" using information from 2002.
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48 1 information. This report noted that IPEC employed more 2 than 1500 people and was directly responsible for 1200 3 more additional jobs in the region, resulting in more 4 than $200 million in salaries in 2002. Plant purchases 5 in that year exceeded $280 million and $50 million was 6 paid in direct local and state taxes by the IPEC 7 facilities in 2002. As a result of IPEC operations, the 8 total taxes paid as a result of economic activity induced 9 by IPEC was $215 million in 2002, with a total economic 10 benefit of $1.5 billion for that year. I think this is 11 more than small to moderate. This NEI report also notes 12 that shut down of IPEC would increase electric costs in 13 the region by 13-25%. This would result in additional 14 cost of $800 million to $1 billion per year for 15 electricity in the region. Your EIS does not adequately 16 address the enormous economic benefits of IPEC, which 17 would be lost upon plant shutdown. Thank you.
18 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you, sir, and thank you for 19 the written comments. I'll make sure they are included 20 in the comments that we respond to. We'll go now to Al 21 Samuels from the Rockland Business Association and then 22 Jacques Degraff, 100 Black Men and third to Bill 23 Hohlfeld, Local-46 Labor-Management Cooperative Trust.
24 MR. SAMUELS: Good afternoon. My name is Al 25 Samuels. I am President and CEO of the Rockland Business NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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49 1 Association. Our organization represents over a thousand 2 businesses in the region. 24% of our members are from 3 outside of Rockland. 7% from Westchester. 7% from 4 Orange County. We represent a very diverse group. We 5 have a very diverse membership base. We speak on their 6 behalf on many issues concerning rebuilding an expansion 7 of infrastructure, affordable health care and of course 8 the reliability and availability of electricity, which is 9 why I come before you today.
10 Historically, Rockland's residents have rarely 11 viewed Indian Point as being beneficial to the county.
12 While they have participated in the emergency planning 13 process as part of Rocklands officials responsibilities 14 to the E-Plan without either apparent tax or power 15 benefits from the site, some residents and elected 16 officials took the viewpoint there was no viable 17 connection between the site and the county. If recent 18 events have taught us anything, it's that seemingly 19 disconnected pieces of our economy, whether here or 20 thousands of miles away are delicately interconnected and 21 when those pieces break, we all suffer consequences and 22 equally feel the financial impact. The time for 23 Rockland's agnostic feelings towards the future of Indian 24 Point is over.
25 Indian Point's power now flows through our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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50 1 lines to our businesses and our homes. Indian Point 2 employees live in Rockland County. When they spend their 3 hard-earned money, those dollars flow to our shops, to 4 our gas stations, to our restaurants. When they pay 5 their school taxes that money flows to our classrooms and 6 goes towards paying our teacher salaries. We agree with 7 our colleagues in labor. This is not the time to put 8 union workers on the unemployment line.
9 Now in the face of the mounting budget cuts, 10 the threat of economic collapse, we need Indian Point's, 11 green low-cost electric power more than ever. The lower 12 Hudson Valley receives 18-36% of its electricity from 13 Indian Point. A large amount of power and by any 14 reasonable measure, an amount we cannot easily afford to 15 lose or to replace.
16 Our association is very proud of something we 17 call our green counsel. This group addresses many issues 18 and seeks many green solutions, but business owners 19 cannot rely on empty or fanciful promises of alternative 20 sources of energy. We have businesses to run. Employees 21 to pay. Taxes to make do. We must submit this and pay 22 these things every day. We must have reliable and 23 affordable electricity that runs 24/7 that parallels the 24 demands of our businesses. We need this in order to be 25 competitive in today's economy to survive. The Rockland NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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51 1 Business Association fully supports both our counties and 2 our state's energy efficiency reports and there were 3 efforts. We believe in the investing and the development 4 of new sources of green power. But let's first prove 5 that we can both save enough electricity through new 6 efficiency programs and build enough additional 7 transmission and power producing infrastructure before we 8 casually dismiss 2000 Mw of efficient base-load power 9 right here in the Hudson Valley.
10 Rockland is no stranger to seeing energy 11 providers close up shop. Plant closures such as the 12 Lovett Plant in Stonypoint have significantly impacted 13 the budgets of our North Rockland communities, of which I 14 am a resident, and our school district. We cannot allow 15 other communities to suffer the same consequences. That 16 is why I am here today to support the continued operation 17 of the Indian Point Energy Center and to urge the Nuclear 18 Regulatory Commission to extend the site license for 19 another 20 years. And I thank you very much for your 20 time.
21 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, next will go to Jacques 22 Degraff with 100 Black Men, second to Bill Hohlfeld, 23 Local-46 Labor-Management Cooperative Trust and third to 24 Darwin Davis, Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce.
25 REV. DEGRAFF: Good afternoon. My name is Rev.
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52 1 Jacques Degraff. I'm second vice-president of the 100 2 Black Men. We're an organization that was founded in 3 1963 to fight for issues of justice on behalf of our 4 community. The symbol on my pin indicates an open door, 5 open to opportunities for our community. We operate 6 under several principles, the principles of education, 7 economic opportunities and health-care. It is because of 8 these three pillars that our organization has been driven 9 here today, because the values are being threatened by 10 this discussion and it's implicit, leaving us out of to 11 many of these discussions.
12 The debate over the Indian Point Energy Center 13 has waged on without participation from New York's 14 diverse communities of color. For to long, our 15 communities have been relegated to the sidelines as 16 energy policy was made in our name, but without our 17 input. A small vocal minority has received the 18 disproportionate level of attention, while the benefits 19 to a larger yet silent majority have not been properly 20 considered. Today, New York's communities of color, from 21 Harlem to Bushwick, from the Bronx to South Jamaica, are 22 here to end this disturbing trend and to say in one 23 unified voice that no decision on the continued operation 24 of Indian Point can be made without substantial 25 contributions from all the communities the power-plant NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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53 1 serves. As an organization devoted to increasing public 2 awareness of health issues which affect our community, we 3 are all too familiar with the impact asthma has on our 4 children. The asthma rate in Harlem is four times the 5 national average with one in four children suffering from 6 serious life altering disease. Nearly one third of New 7 York City children with asthma reside in the Bronx, with 8 neighborhoods like Hunts Point and Mount Haven having 9 among the highest rates of asthma in the country.
10 Asthma is now the leading cause of emergency 11 room visits for our children and missed school days with 12 children in New York City's poorest neighborhoods. The 13 air quality of New York City's poor neighborhoods already 14 stands in violation of federal law and to often it is in 15 our communities that the alternatives to nuclear power, 16 dirty fossil fuel'polluting power plants are constructed.
17 Some of these plants are constructed without 18 environmental impact statements and leave our 19 neighborhoods literally suffocating while wealthier, more 20 affluent communities breathe freely. It's as if those 21 who cried not in my backyard when it comes to Indian 22 Point, failed to realize that there are nearby 23 communities with no backyards left. Our community 24 recognizes that the Indian Point Energy Center avoids 25 millions of tons of pollution every year, while providing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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54 1 us with over 2000 Mw of electricity for our schools, mass 2 transit, hospitals and government institutions. We 3 recognize that without Indian Point, we can expect a 4 drastic spike in the cost of electricity. Coupling the 5 increased electric bills with the diminished economic 6 opportunity our community already faces is the real 7 disaster waiting to happen.
8 We owe it to our children and to our 9 grandchildren to conduct this debate on Indian Point in a 10 responsible manner. We must move past the scare tactics 11 and the old attacks of the past and strive towards a 12 debate that will set the proper course for New York's 13 clean energy future. We must travel this course together 14 as a single group of concerned and conscientious citizens 15 for it is only together that we can strike the balance 16 necessary to ensure the health and safety of all God's 17 creatures. I thank you for allowing me the time to add 18 our concerns to this community debate. We are hopeful 19 that any decision reached will ensure a continued supply 20 of reliable, clean and affordable electricity for all New 21 Yorkers.
22 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, if I could please have Bill 23 Hohlfeld from Local-46 Labor-Management Cooperative 24 Trust, then we'll go to Norman Brown and third to Joanne 25 Campbell, Albany House Residents Association.
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55 1 MR. HOHLFELD: Thank you for this opportunity to 2 address you this afternoon. My name is Bill Hohlfeld and 3 I'm from the Local-46 Labor-Management Cooperative Trust.
4 On behalf of the working men and women of Local-46, I 5 rise today to speak in support of the Indian Point re-6 licensing.
7 There's no question that these are tough times 8 for New York's working families. However, New York 9 cannot meet its current and future energy needs without 10 the continued operation of the Indian Point Energy 11 Center. Indian Point produces 2000 Mw of clean emission 12 free electricity and is a critical economic engine for 13 the lower Hudson Valley, responsible for more than $700 14 million in annual regional economic activity. The New 15 York Independent system operator noted that the closure 16 of Indian Point's reactors would result in, and I quote, 17 an immediate violation of reliability standards. Given 18 that on a typical day, Indian Point provides up to 30% of 19 the power used in New York City and the surrounding 20 region is even more critical to keep Indian Point online.
21 Additionally, Indian Point is also a friend of 22 working families throughout the Hudson Valley. Not only 23 does Indian Point provide reliable low-cost electricity, 24 but organized labor has been central to the continued 25 operation and support of this facility. Working families NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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56 1 deserve a comprehensive commonsense energy plan that will 2 support our state's economic recovery. Indian Point's 3 2000 Mw of clean, reliable, low-cost electricity are 4 completely crucial to this effort. As I speak to you 5 today as a member and a representative of Local-46, as a 6 resident of the Hudson Valley and a member of the area 7 and I ask you, please keep Indian Point open. Thank you 8 very much.
9 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you, sir. We'll go now to 10 Joanne Campbell and then we'll go to Darwin Davis.
11 MS. CAMPBELL: Good afternoon. My name is 12 Joanne Campbell and I am vice-president of Albany Houses 13 Tenants Association in Brooklyn. On behalf Of Tenants 14 Association and residents of public housing throughout 15 the borough, I would like to testify today in support of 16 the Indian Point Energy Center. Re-licensing the Indian 17 Point Energy Center is the right move for Brooklyn's 18 public housing families. New York currently has the 19 second-highest energy prices in the nation and in order 20 to secure a future where energy prices are stable and 21 affordable, Indian Point must remain open and 22 operational.
23 Independent studies show that closing Indian 24 Point could increase energy bills for families by.
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57 1 uncertainty or, now is not the time to force already 2 struggling families to pay more just to turn the lights 3 on. Although I electricity bills are often included with 4 the rent we pay, make no mistake about it, the families I 5 represent at Albany Houses feel the painful sting of 6 increased energy prices throughout our community.
7 The prices families in my neighborhood pay for 8 the milk, corn and other groceries are a direct result of 9 higher energy costs. High energy prices are also felt by 10 those families who rely on New York City's mass transit 11 system because subways and bus fares are similarly 12 increased to keep the pace New York City public housing 13 set last year that if prices continue to rise that they 14 will be forced to raise rents and eliminate hundreds of 15 community and senior centers in my neighborhood needed to 16 survive. Excuse me y'all. There are too many families 17 in my neighborhood that live below the federal poverty 18 line, and it is those families and countless others who 19 are just getting by who cannot withstand even the 20 slightest increase in our electric bills.
21 As the economy threatens to plunge my community 22 into further peril, the voice and concerns of low income 23 Brooklyn must be heard in this debate. Tenants 24 Associations and public housing families in Brooklyn 25 stand together in the belief that New York's clean energy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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58 1 future must be affordable for all. The crucial first 2 step for towards securing a affordable energy future is 3 to re-license Indian Point so it can remain open an 4 additional 20 years. Thank you for allowing me to add 5 the concerns of the Brooklyn Tenant Association to this 6 debate. I hope we will be able to reach a decision that 7 keeps Indian Point open.
8 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, now if we could go to Darwin 9 Davis from the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and 10 then to Joanne Campbell, Albany House Residents 11 Association -- oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, then we'll go to 12 Frank Garcia from the Bronx Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
13 MR. DAVIS: Thank you for the opportunity to 14 address you this afternoon. My name is Darwin Davis.
15 I'm proud to represent the Greater Harlem Chamber of 16 Commerce and our president Lloyd Williams. We've been in 17 operation for the last 110 years. While the Indian Point 18 Energy Center and Entergy may not directly be in my 19 backyard, the effects of Indian Point have a dramatic 20 impact on it. For that and a host of other reasons, I am 21 here in support of Entergy's request an application for 22 Indian Point's re-licensing. First you should know that 23 Indian Point provides up to 30% of the energy in New York 24 City, where I and 2000 of our Chamber members reside.
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59 1 schools, our hospitals, our homes and our businesses.
2 Secondly, while the business climate in Harlem has 3 certainly improved over the last decade, the fact of 4 matter is that businesses within our region and the 5 working families who operate them would be severely 6 impacted by the loss of Indian Point's reliable low-cost 7 electricity. Higher utility rates and interrupted 8 service will only move my community further into economic 9 tsunami engulfing much of the nation.
10 Thirdly, Indian Point's environmental benefits 11 are crucial to my community's quality of life. The 12 asthma point has already been raised, I won't add it to 13 the debate. Fourth, energy has proven itself to be a 14 good corporate citizen. It seeks collaboration with 15 nonprofit organizations in the service areas of its 16 facilities and the relationship it has with the Chamber 17 and has had with the New York Urban League when I was its 18 CEO. Communities like Harlem need affordable, reliable 19 and clean sources of energy, which enhance our quality of 20 life. Indian Point does just that. I urge you to 21 support the licensing renewal. Thank you.
22 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, if we could go to Frank 23 Garcia, Bronx Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Then to 24 Reginald Bowman and then to Sharon Perry. And again, 25 since I have a moment while I'm waiting for people to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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60 1 come up, remember we are specifically looking for 2 comments on the draft environmental scoping. So, any of 3 those kind of comments, please focus on them or again you 4 can always give me a written statement and we'd be glad 5 to take that and put that directly into the transcript.
6 Please --
7 MR. GARCIA: Good afternoon, my name is Frank 8 Garcia. I am chairman of the Bronx Hispanic Chamber of 9 Commerce. I'm also a small Hispanic business. I'm the 10 CEO of Millennium Recycle Toner in the South Bronx. The 11 reason I'm here today is to speak on what's going on with 12 the small businesses in the Bronx. If this Indian Point 13 energy plant closes down, this is going to hurt a lot of 14 our small businesses. Right now, the record of small 15 businesses in the Bronx is closing to 15 to 20 businesses 16 per week because of the climate. We strongly recommend 17 that this plant remain open to be able to help the small 18 businesses to continue being able to be open.
19 Everybody knows that New York pays almost the 20 highest electric bills than any other area. I myself as 21 a small business, this has hurt me very dramatically how 22 the energy has gone up. As a manufacture, it's very hard 23 for me to be able to continue manufacturing in New York, 24 in the Bronx with the increase of electricity. Without 25 electricity, I can't manufacture. I'm asking that the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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61 1 doors cannot shut down to Indian Point. Why? Because 2 shutting it down, you're shutting businesses down. We 3 are, in this moment, in a crisis in New York City and New 4 York State and we're asking to keep this open to be able 5 to keep businesses still open in New York. A lot of 6 other areas have increased electricity in other states 7 and that's hurt small business. We need to encourage to 8 keep the plant open. A lot of the revenue that the 9 businesses depend on, like the small bodegas or 10 restaurants that I myself represent -- my grandfather was 11 the head of the Latin Grocery Association in the 1960s 12 and if he was a bodega owner right now, he would not have 13 been able to survive his business. Why? Because it 14 increased, not just in electricity, rent and everything 15 else. I encourage today, as a small-business owner, to 16 keep the energy plant open, to keep businesses and small 17 businesses open and to continue with clean energy and to 18 help the community continue growing in the small-business 19 community. Thank you.
20 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to Reginald Bowman.
21 Next to Sharon Perry and third to John Mattis.
22 MR. BOWMAN: Good afternoon everyone. Good 23 afternoon. How are you? I know that we're all here on 24 different sides, but we are all in this together. My 25 name is Reginald Bowman and I'm the Chairperson of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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62 1 New York City Housing Authority's Resident Council, which 2 actually represents more than 400,000 New Yorkers that 3 live in public housing in the five boroughs of the city 4 of New York. And all the speakers that have come before 5 me have sort of outlined what I had to say and I just 6 wanted to make sure that when I came up here today looked 7 around this room I encouraged all of us who are here, 8 regardless of which side we are on, to understand that 9 we're all in this together and there's a domino effect 10 that takes place when policy decisions are made about 11 major facilities like this that provide a life source of 12 energy for all of us that live in the State of New York.
13 Last summer, gas and electricity bills skyrocketed for 14 the renters, homeowners, businesses across the country.
15 In New York City in public housing, people say 16 well, people in public housing don't pay electric bills.
17 That's no longer true. We that live in public housing 18 were hit with rent increases that were directly related 19 to the fact that the energy cost for the New York City 20 Housing Authority have escalated along with the cost for 21 everything else that is provided for people in public 22 housing through those budgets. Those of us that live in 23 those developments were directly impacted by those 24 things. It is vitally important to keep Indian Point 25 open as one of the few sources of energy with reliable NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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63 1 output and stable prices. You've heard that over and 2 over again this afternoon and when someone repeats 3 something over and over again, some part of that has to 4 be true.
5 During this period of economic insecurity, we 6 cannot afford to make already struggling families and 7 businesses pay more just to keep our houses warm and you 8 know what happened this winter, it was a brutal winter 9 here up-state. It was a brutal winter down-state. We're 10 paying more and more to keep a houses warm. And if we're 11 going to think about the next 10, 15, 20 years of energy 12 provision for this region, we have to really 13 realistically look at the fact that we're going to have 14 to keep Indian Point online if we're going to provide 15 this energy and then do the intelligent type of thinking 16 together to create policy for the future and to keep the 17 energy and businesses in our community alive. The re-18 licensing of Indian Point will not only protect families 19 from overly expensive energy costs. It will also help 20 the economy stabilize in this difficult economic time.
21 High prices for gas and oil effect costs across the 22 economy from making and shipping products to subway and 23 bus fares.
24 Indian Point, however, represents stability in 25 this unpredictable atmosphere. The reliability and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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64 1 stable course of nuclear energy are one of the keys to 2 keeping the economic crisis from spiraling out of control 3 for the people that I represent in public housing in the 4 city of New York. So, as the president of the Council of 5 residents of the New York City Housing Authority, I 6 cannot stand by as opponents of Indian Point threaten to 7 force New York City families to pay higher rents, 8 outrageous energy bills and more for the products and 9 services that we need. New York must move together 10 towards making sure that all families in this state and 11 in the city have access to affordable energy. Re-12 licensing Indian point is the first step in making that 13 goal a reality. Thank you.
14 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to Sharon Perry and 15 then John Mattis and Cheryl Anthony.
16 MS. PERRY: Okay, I just want to make a 17 correction. Good afternoon, my name is Sharonee Perry.
18 I am a community activist and consultant. As a former 19 chairperson of community Board 3 in Brooklyn, I would 20 like to take this time to discuss the many reasons I 21 believe that Indian Point Energy Center should receive a 22 new license valid for 20 years. In this time of 23 financial crisis, we much carefully examine any proposal 24 that would cause costs to rise for New York City 25 families. Currently Indian Point helps to stabilize NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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65 1 energy costs in Brooklyn. While the cost of oil and gas 2 energy can change dramatically based on factors beyond 3 our control, nuclear energy costs are relatively 4 consistent. Many of the lower income communities of 5 Brooklyn, rising costs are making it increasingly 6 difficult for families to survive in order to heat their 7 homes.
8 Independent studies show that closing Indian 9 Point can raise energy costs for families by thousands of 10 dollars per year. Stabilizing energy costs isn't the 11 only reason to keep Indian Point open for our 12 communities. The quality of air that we breathe 13 decreases as more and more people move into Brooklyn, 14 increasing the number of cars that are being used. New 15 York City's air is already harmful. It violates federal 16 safety standards. Because of the poor air quality, our 17 children suffer from asthma. I am a witness to that who 18 has a grandson who is a chronic asthmatic, who I almost 19 lost twice. The poor air quality in our community is 20 particularly caused by the same dirty power plants that 21 would replace Indian Point if it closed.
22 Brooklyn cannot afford to have more of these 23 dirty plants pumping toxic fumes into the air, putting 24 our families in more danger. Unlike dirty plants, Indian 25' Point provides clean and affordable energy to New York NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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66 1 City. Re-licensing Indian Point would keep Brooklyn's 2 air-quality from becoming more harmful and pave the way 3 for New York to develop clean energy sources throughout 4 the city. As Chair of Community Board 3, I've worked 5 with many people, businesses and institutions that keeps 6 Brooklyn strong. Indian Point is part of the larger 7 community affecting Brooklyn that we cannot afford to 8 lose. Thank you.
9 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, I'd like to go to John 10 Mattis, then Cheryl Anthony and then Mayor Al Donahue.
11 MR. MATTIS: Good afternoon. My name is John 12 Mattis and I've been a proud resident of the town of 13 Cortland for 36 years. I'm also the chairman of the 14 town's Zoning Board of Appeals. But more importantly, 15 I'm a member of the town's Economic Challenge Committee.
16 The committee is responsible for assisting small business 17 owners, promoting economic development, issues and 18 ensuring economics are part of the town's future planning 19 process. As an advocate for those small-business owners, 20 I can tell you that closing Indian Point would be a 21 devastating action for them. As well as the residents of 22 Cortland, like me, who depend on these local businesses 23 for many goods and services as well as feeding the tax 24 base, which includes the school district. Businesses and 25 residents alike depend upon Indian Point for its low-cost NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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67 1 reliable energy, the jobs provided by the site, the taxes 2 paid by Entergy, the support of our community programs, 3 as well as the emergency planning technical expertise we 4 have received being a close neighbor of the site.
5 We hear many negatives about Indian Point in 6 the media. But we never hear the positives associated 7 with the site, which is a shame. Entergy and the workers 8 at Indian Point have been good neighbors to all of us.
9 And in difficult times, as we are facing now, neighbors 10 stick together. This community will not survive without 11 Indian Point. Look across the river at Rockland County, 12 if you want to see what happens to a neighborhood, to a 13 school district, when a power plant leaves you. It's 14 devastating. Your taxes increase dramatically and the 15 higher your taxes move, the more hard-working residents 16 will take flight and leave the area, leaving those behind 17 with an even greater financial burden to carry. There a 18 lot of people here today who do not live here and yet 19 they're telling us how to live our lives. For years, 20 they have spoken of the devastation Indian Point would 21 cause. Yet, it is some of their very greedy Wall Street 22 donors who have destroyed this region.
23 In closing, I'll say to those of you who oppose 24 the re-licensing of this plant, if you are successful, 25 God forbid, and this plant is not re-licensed, I invite NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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68 1 you to move here. Move in this area so that you can 2 share in our economic devastation. So you can share in 3 our runaway taxes. So you can share in our regional 4 brownouts and our regional blackouts. Thank you.
5 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to a Cheryl 6 Anthony, Mayor Alan Donahue and then third to Alfred 7 Placeres.
8 REV. DR. ANTHONY: Good afternoon, my name is 9 Reverend Dr. Cheryl Anthony and I am the pastor and CEO 10 of Jude International Christian Center. Jude 11 International Christian Center is a multi-faceted inner-12 city ministry that serves as an intermediary to 13 government agencies, the private sector, churches, 14 mosques, temples and synagogues. I have served as a 15 faith-based liaison and advisor to Presidents Bush and 16 Clinton helping them to implement programs within our 17 local community. I'm here today representing my 18 congregation as well as the African-American clergy and 19 elected officials, the Brooklyn Council of Churches and 20 Woman of Faith advocating change. We are here in support 21 of the Indian Point Energy Center.
22 Over the past years, we have seen the air 23 quality in Brooklyn get worse and worse as more people 24 move into our neighborhood and fill our streets with cars 25 and diesel trucks that pollute the air that we breathe.
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69 1 In fact, the air-quality throughout New York City is 2 dangerously below federal standards. I support the re-3 licensing of Indian point because I know that nuclear 4 power is a safe way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5 and pollution in our community and keep Brooklyn safe for 6 future generations. The dangers of rising greenhouse 7 gases and pollution are visible even today, particularly 8 in Brooklyn's low income families.
9 Our children, exposed to dangerously poor air 10 quality are developing, and it's been said previously, 11 but I need to reiterate, are developing asthma at a rate 12 that is four times a national average. Many of 13 Brooklyn's families cannot afford to pay for the metal 14 care and medicines that children need, leading to 15 hospitalization and missed school days for low income 16 children. Yet, because of this disease, poor air quality 17 can be prevented through smart policy decisions and a 18 dedication clean air technology. Re-licensing the Indian 19 Point Energy Center is a critical step in improving air 20 quality in our communities and lowering the number of 21 those that suffer from asthma. Religious leaders 22 throughout Brooklyn see Indian Point as a clean, safe and 23 affordable option for New York City's energy supply.
24 By re-licensing Indian Point, New York has the 25 opportunity to invest in a future that reduces greenhouse NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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70 1 gases and is safer for our children. Thank you for 2 giving me this opportunity to speak today. I hope that 3 through my testimony and that of other supporters, you 4 will see how keeping Indian Point open is the right move 5 for New York. Thank you.
6 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to Mayor Al Donahue 7 of the Village of Buchanan, then to Alfred Placeres, U.S.
8 Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and then to Reverend Smith, 9 AME Mount Zion Church.
10 MAYOR DONAHUE: Okay, thank you. As Mayor of 11 Buchanan, I have had the distinct honor of representing 12 the more than 2000 residents of the village of Buchanan 13 before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I take this 14 role very seriously as Buchanan is the home to the twin 15 nuclear reactors now known as Indian Point Energy Center 16 under its current owner and operator Entergy. Buchanan 17 has thrived as a community in the shadow of these plants, 18 but never shirked away from its responsibility in 19 ensuring the operator of Indian Point ran these plants in 20 a manner that preserved the health and welfare of area 21 residents. The Village of Buchanan grew side-by-side 22 with the construction of the site as has our appreciation 23 for Entergy's dedication to running these plants well and 24 remaining an involved community partner. Indian Point is 25 responsible for providing approximately 37% of Buchanan's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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71 1 total operating budget as well as provide substantial 2 financial support to the nearby Hendrick Hudson High 3 School District attended by many of Buchanan's children.
4 In addition, Entergy has invested in local 5 infrastructure, provided critical funding to the library 6 system and even paid for the lighting system at the high 7 school so residents could enjoy football games at night.
8 Entergy has been an outstanding corporate citizen at a 9 time when other corporations are either fleeing the 10 region or significantly cutting back on their corporate 11 philanthropy.
12 Most important, Entergy employees are involved 13 in the community, donating hundreds of hours in 14 volunteering their time. Everything from sitting on a 15 local committee to supporting our great St. Patrick's Day 16 parade. They are here. They are involved. They are 17 part of our community. Since the Indian Point opened in 18 the early 1970s, Buchanan residents have seen Indian 19 Point host its share of dignitaries and detractors, 20 politicians and pundits, friends and foes especially 21 after 9/11. The people in opposition to the Indian Point 22 will always be in opposition to nuclear power. I cannot 23 change their opinion and neither can you. These critics 24 will never see what so many others see, that Indian Point 25 provides 2000 Mw of clean, affordable and reliable NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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72 1 electricity. These plants are absolutely vital to 2 regional community. Our local economy is struggling 3 under the weight of the latest recession. Yet, you're 4 hearing from some individuals today, who, without thought 5 of even a short-term consequences of their actions want 6 to shut down this site plant. I have seen opponents take 7 some outrageous actions, yet your arguments are always 8 the same. In good economic times or bad, before 9/11 or 9 after 9/11, certainly the NRC knows them all by heart.
10 They will say the plants are unsafe. The plants are 11 unsecured and would add easily replaced nonsense. And 12 other times study and study, the opposite has been shown 13 to be true and these opponents proven wrong.
14 MR. RAKOVAN: Sir, if you could please finish.
15 MAYOR DONOVAN: Yeah, one more second. Entergy 16 has proven itself as reliable operator. They have 17 invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Indian Point.
18 When problems have arisen, they have responded 19 appropriately. And when their responsibility was 20 insufficient like with the replacement of the existing 21 siren system, the company paid the appropriate price and 22 the NRC and FEMA acted accordingly. Their security force 23 is top notch. And as a former state police officer, I 24 can say that with great confidence and conviction. To 25 the final piece, now more then ever, the economy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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73 1 interests of the entire Hudson Valley region are tied to 2 the outcome of the regulatory process to determine if 3 Indian Point remains on the job for the next 20 years.
4 The economic facts are clear. Indian Point provides 5 anywhere from 18 to 38% of our regional electricity and 6 there's currently no viable alternative for replacing its 7 2000 Mw of power. The environmental case is equally 8 compelling. Replacing Indian Point with fossil fuel 9 plants would trigger a 20% increase in carbon monoxide 10 emission according to a recent study by the National 11 Academy of Sciences. The citizens of Buchanan are 12 already suffering from polluted Hudson Valley area air, 13 which is not caused by the nuclear plant, but will --
14 MR. RAKOVAN: Sir, I'm going to have to ask you 15 to close. We've got to many speakers.
16 MAYOR DONOVAN: I understand that, but it's in 17 my village and I timed people that talked for six or 18 seven minutes. I've only got one more page.
19 -- definitely get exponentially worse if these plants 20 were replaced by more coal or gas plants. Let me be 21 critically clear at this point, the many economics and 22 environmental benefits of Indian Point can never outweigh 23 safety. Personally, I was impressed with the 24 thoroughness of the recent independent safety evaluation 25 conducted by a panel of distinguished experts who NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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74 1 announced it concluded that Indian Point is a safe plant 2 of course. Many of the Indian Point critics here today 3 dismiss this report, even before it was released. That 4 is why I take comfort from the fact that the NRC and the 5 local officials working together will continue to 6 judiciously review the ability of India Point's owners, 7 Entergy, to continue to run these plants as safely and 8 efficiently as they have taken over the operation. I 9 strongly support the continual operation of the Indian 10 Point Energy plant for another 20 years and beyond its 11 current license and strongly recommend you listen to the 12 voices of recent and scientific fact, rather than those 13 individuals who use fear. Thank you.
14 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, thank you again to those who 15 have stuck to the three-minute limit that I requested you 16 do at the beginning of the meeting and thanks also to 17 those of you who are sticking on point and giving us 18 comments on our draft environmental scoping statements.
19 I'd like to go next to Alfred Placeres, U.S. Hispanic 20 Chamber of Commerce then to Reverend Smith, AME Mount 21 Zion Church and third to Bill Mooney, Westchester County.
22 Alfred Placeres? He's not here. Okay. Okay Reverend 23 Smith, AME Mount Zion Church. Thank you, sir.
24 DR. SMITH: Good afternoon. My name is Dr.
25 Gregory Robeson Smith and I am the senior pastor of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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75 1 Mother AME Mount Zion Church in Harlem. New York State's 2 oldest church. Organized in 1796, we will celebrate our 3 213th year. Mother Zion, also known as the freedom 4 church throughout its long history. Mother Zion has many 5 of its luscious members who were leaders in our historic 6 fight for freedom. They included Harriet Tubman, 7 Frederick Douglass, Sternon Tooth [sp], Paul Robeson, 8 Madame C.J. Walker and many others who fought so 9 valiantly to free African-Americans socially, politically 10 and spiritually.
11 Today, Mother Zion is the Mother Church of the 12 AME Zion denomination, which is located on five 13 continents and has a membership of 1.5 million members.
14 Public forums like this have historically granted 15 citizens a unique opportunity to have their concerns 16 heard by decision-makers and power brokers. From ancient 17 Rome to Birmingham, Alabama, the people who rise to 18 address these forums have helped shape public opinion and 19 policy. One such policy I would like to speak to this 20 afternoon is the re-licensing of Indian Point Energy 21 Center and how it continues operation in the best 22 interests of the children and the families of Harlem, who 23 make up my congregation. Regrettably, the debate over 24 re-licensing has taken place without input from 25 communities like Harlem which are under siege by the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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76 1 dirty air, not to mention the health aspects that come 2 along with poor air quality. The debate over re-3 licensing has raged on without input from those who can 4 ill afford to pay electricity bills. This debate over 5 re-licensing has taken place without the reassurance that 6 the dirty air power plants built to replace Indian Point 7 will not once again end up in our neighborhoods. It's 8 only through conversations in communities most benefited 9 by Indian Point like Harlem, Bronx, and Brooklyn, we can 10 begin to fully appreciate the need for clean and reliable 11 energy Indian Point provides.
12 Last year we sponsored such a dialogue with my 13 fellow members of the Harlem clergy. It is through this 14 dialogue that we learned the full scope of the crisis 15 situation facing Harlem families if Indian Point is 16 closed. We learned that the closing of Indian Point 17 comes with additional threats to our air quality and 18 drastic increases in electricity bills. There are too 19 many cases of seniors in our neighborhoods and to many 20 families forced to choose between heating their home and 21 buying groceries just to justify closing Indian Point.
22 An open Indian Point means continued clean emissions-free 23 energy that will help improve air quality. An open 24 Indian Point means continued affordable energy that helps 25 keep electricity bills stable. An open Indian Point NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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77 1 means continued reliable energy which would provide for 2 our homes, schools, mass transit, hospitals and religious 3 institutions. I am not only here to support Indian Point 4 Energy Center, but I'm also here today in the spirit of 5 corporation and unity. Thank you for allowing the to add 6 my concerns and that of my congregation to this debate 7 and we're hopeful that any decision reached will be one 8 that ensures continued supply of reliable, clean and 9 affordable electricity for all New Yorkers.
10 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, Bill Mooney from Westchester 11 County, then we'll go to Paul Vitale, Business Council of 12 Westchester and third to Carol Smith Orange County 13 Chamber of Commerce.
14 MR. MOONEY: My name is Bill Mooney, President, 15 of the Westchester County Association and I come to you 16 today in support of the Indian Point re-licensing by the 17 NRC. Focusing on the long-term region needs of our 18 region, the issue of energy is one of the most identified 19 issues most often identified by our members. The 20 availability of affordable, reliable base-load power is 21 critical to creating jobs, stimulating investment and 22 growing our economy. Indian Point does that obviously.
23 Not only does Indian Point produce over 2000 Mw of 24 reliable base-load power, but it produces it in an 25 emissions-free manner. It's also responsible for an NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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78 1 economic impact approaching three quarters of $1 billion, 2 a huge economic engine. And also responsible for more 3 the 1000 jobs. In these tight economic times, those 4 facts speak clearly for themselves. Indian Point operator 5 Entergy is also an important presence in our community.
6 Donating millions of dollars to schools, health care 7 facilities and other worthy causes. Indian Point is also 8 important steward of the environment helping New York 9 with the distinction of having one of a lowest per capita 10 carbon emissions count in the region. In the nation, as 11 a matter of fact. As you continue your deliberations, I 12 ask you to look at the facts carefully when evaluating.
13 Using a sober and reasonable approach, I'm sure you'll 14 agree that Indian Point remains a critical component of 15 the region's energy supply, which provides the economic 16 and environmental benefits that our region deserves.
17 Thank you for the opportunity in sharing my thoughts.
18 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, let's go to Paul Vitale, 19 Business Council of Westchester, then to Carol Smith and 20 third to John McCormick.
21 MR. VITALE: Good afternoon, my name is Paul 22 Vitale. I'm vice president of the government relations 23 for the Business Council of Westchester. Business 24 Council of Westchester is Westchester's largest business 25 organization, representing over 1200 members ranging in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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79 1 size from large multinational corporations and mid-size 2 businesses to professional firms not for profit 3 organizations and small-business owners in every sector 4 of the county's diverse economy. The economic situation 5 in Westchester is increasingly distressing. As such, the 6 closure of Indian Point, which is the backbone of 7 Westchester County and the lower Hudson Valley's 8 electricity network, would be economically devastating.
9 It should be emphasized that Indian Point provides more 10 than 75% of the electricity consumed within the lower 11 Hudson Valley. Indian Point contributes over $50 million 12 paid in local taxes, including sales taxes, payroll 13 taxes, property taxes and state and local income taxes.
14 Losing Indian Point could potentially cause major power 15 disruptions, the loss of up to 11,000 jobs and $2.1 16 billion in cumulative lost wages, while Westchester's 17 unemployment rate continues to increase.
18 The closure of Indian Point could result in the 19 doubling of the electricity rates of the second highest 20 rates that New York homeowners and businesses currently 21 pay. many businesses in Westchester County already 22 having trouble managing their increasing costs, including 23 the cost. of reliable electricity. The alternatives laid 24 out to replace Indian Point do not make sense 25 economically or environmentally for this region.
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80 1 Replacing Indian Point with any fossil fuel equivalent 2 would greatly increase the carbon emissions of the region 3 at a time when we can ill afford to do so. Indian Point 4 has been very important to this region and our 5 communities. The renewal of the operating license for 6 Indian Point is crucial more than ever before. Thank you 7 for the chance to address this audience.
8 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to Carol Smith, 9 Orange County Chamber of Commerce. I know the crowd's 10 thinning out a little bit and so if I could ask people 11 having side-conversations as such, to please take them 12 outside. Carol, please. So if we can keep the noise 13 level down so we can focus. We do have at least another 14 hour1.62037e-4 days <br />0.00389 hours <br />2.314815e-5 weeks <br />5.327e-6 months <br /> to go and we'd like to keep taking comments. I'm 15 going to be done with the pre-registration comments soon 16 and we'll be able to go to the yellow cards that we 17 collected for people who walked in and signed up. I do 18 have a question, is Tamisha Hurley here today? I had her 19 signed-up to talk and I just wanted to see if she was 20 here. Okay, I don't see a hand, so. Ms. Smith, please.
21 MS. SMITH: Good afternoon. I'm Carol Smith and 22 I'm vice-president for the Orange County Chamber of 23 Commerce. Our chamber represents more than 2000 24 businesses in Orange County and the sufrounding areas.
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81 1 more than 2000 Mw of electricity, which has been said is 2 enough to provide between 18 and 38% of the lower Hudson 3 Valley's and New York City's electricity needs on any 4 given day. More important though, is that this is clean 5 and affordable power whose generation produces none of 6 the greenhouse gases or other pollutants that contaminate 7 our environment and contribute to global warming.
8 Of course, alternative sources of energy such 9 as wind and solar power should be actively pursued, but 10 in the meantime, it would be economically and 11 environmentally irresponsible to close Indian Point. The 12 Orange County Chamber of Commerce believes that Entergy 13 should be granted the renewal of its license to operate 14 Indian Point. Assuming that safety of our residents and 15 security of this facility are always its paramount 16 concerns. Since purchasing Indian Point in 2001, Entergy 17 has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in enhanced 18 security and safety features for the facility. We are 19 sure they will continue to do so.
20 The Indian Point Energy Center is vitally 21 important to the economic and environmental health of the 22 entire region. Electricity demands are rapidly 23 increasing and no new power plants are being built or 24 even planned. These are two additional reasons why the 25 re-licensing of Indian Point is so important. To answer NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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82 I those who call for Indian Point to be shutdown, a recent 2 national Academy of Science study said that although a 3 shutdown would be technically feasible, it would lead to 4 significantly higher electricity bills and would worsen 5 the volatile price swings within the natural gas market.
6 For an environmental point of view, loss of Indian 7 Point's 2000 Mw of energy would result in higher levels 8 of environmentally harmful greenhouse gas emissions 9 because of the bulk of the replacement power would 10 require burning the dirtier fossil fuels. We know the 11 Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be carefully 12 evaluating Entergy's request for the license renewal of 13 Indian Point and this process will include a 14 comprehensive review and evaluation of the facility. We 15 support this license renewal and we know that Entergy 16 will continue to operate Indian Point with impeccable 17 high standards of quality and excellence. Thank you for 18 the opportunity to speak.
19 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, I have John McCormick, then 20 we'll go to Miguel Blanco and Peter Wolf. Mr. McCormick.
21 MR. MCCORMICK: I'm John McCormick and I'm 22 speaking for the Center for Environment Commerce and 23 Energy where I'm a volunteer consultant. When people 24 ask, well what does the Center represent, we like to say 25 we're speaking for asthmatic children. I want to thank NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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83 1 the NRC for this opportunity make the presentation and I 2 want to compliment Lance, you certainly do run a tight 3 ship, sir. I want to focus specifically on the 4 Environmental Impact Statement at page 8-16 in lines 9-5 17. I'll read just a small portion of it. Replacement 6 power required during a 42-week outage could increase air 7 quality effects depending upon the location and 8 characteristics of generation units to replace Indian 9 Point's 2 and 3.
10 Now of course, that 42-week outage is related 11 to the outage required if Indian Point was required to 12 put in cooling towers or -- to change its cooling system.
13 But, I use that 42-week outage as a subtext for the much 14 larger question, which is permanent outage if in fact NRC 15 does not grant the re-licensing of Units 2 and 3. One of 16 the advantages I have in speaking later in the program is 17 that I get to agree with everyone who supports re-18 licensing. Now, it's really a question of what is 19 available in the city of New York to provide New York's 20 power on any given time. If you took all the capacity 21 that New York City has available to keep its lights on, 22 you're talking about 12,600 Mw. That includes Indian 23 Points 2 and 3. So, if you take that out, you're looking 24 at 10,500 Mw. The impact statement doesn't really look 25 at the very specifics of what would be the energy demand NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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84 1 on a peak hour. So, I looked at 2007. August 8th, in 2 fact. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the peak load for 3 New York City or Zone J, as the New York ISO calls it, 4 was about 11,000 Mw.
5 So again, if you took Indian Point off-line, 6 New York City couldn't meet its own supply of 7 electricity. But, if you put everything online, 8 equipment that was running at two o'clock on August 8 th, 9 you're looking at power plants that are 30 and 40 years 10 old, they're small peaking units. But, they all burn 11 natural gas. So, we're seeing an increase of oxides of 12 nitrogen at a peak time during which is probably an air 13 inversion and we see deteriorating air quality.
14 So, it's a combination then of the ozone coming 15 from the plants that would run if Indian Point was also 16 supplying energy and that's about five tons of oxides of 17 nitrogen at two o'clock in the afternoon. Now, you add 18 the additional oxides of nitrogen from units that would 19 have to come online to replace Indian Point's 2 and 3 and 20 you're looking at almost 10 tons the oxides of nitrogen 21 at two o'clock in the afternoon at a peak period. This 22 is what is the problem, there is not the capacity to 23 replace Indian Point's 2 and 3 and if you ran everything 24 that you had, you still wouldn't meet load, but you're 25 increasing the nox emissions. Therefore, you're NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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85 1 exacerbating the ozone problem and you're hurting the 2 children who are asthmatic and certainly the elderly as 3 well. Thank you for your time. I'll just conclude by 4 saying that this impact statement is incomplete if it 5 doesn't really take apart what is the demand at a peak 6 hour? What kind of increased air pollution at that peak 7 hour on a typical day in say July or August. Thank you.
8 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, I've got Miguel Blanco, 9 Peter Wolf and then Sean Murray. Is Miguel Blanco still 10 here? Okay, Peter Wolf. If you've noticed, I have made 11 it to the cards. So, I am going through in the order 12 that I received them from the people that registered to 13 'speak when they did come to the meeting. We are past the 14 pre-registered people. We've got about an hour left in 15 the meeting. So, I'm going to get to as many of these 16 cards as I possibly can. Sir.
17 MR. WOLF: Good afternoon. While I am certainly 18 sympathetic to the comments that have been made about the 19 environment, I believe this meeting is about the 20 environment and specifically the environmental statement.
21 Rather than going through the thousand of pages of 22 material, I'd like to get back to basics. Because 23 sometimes we're so inundated by the information that is 24 contained in these documents that we lose sight of what 25 we really need to consider and what the NRC needs to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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86 1 consider. The NRC's 2008 citizen's report states that 2 the NRC's vision is quote excellence in regulating the 3 safe and secure use and management of radioactive 4 materials for public good unquote. They also say that 5 their number one strategic goal is safety, as evidenced 6 by the first strategic outcome, which is to quote prevent 7 the occurrence of any releases of any radioactive 8 materials that would result in significant radiation 9 exposures unquote and/or quote adverse environmental 10 impacts unquote. Which is on page 8. Their factors, 11 which singley or certainly in combination, create an 12 untenable environmental risk regarding the releases of 13 radioactive material regarding Indian Point. Including 14 but not limited to number one: the type of above ground 15 storage of spent fuel.
16 Again this report on page 7 says, typically the 17 spent fuel from nuclear power plants is stored either in 18 water filled pools at each reactor site or as a storage 19 facility in Illinois unquote. And that quote several 20 nuclear power plants have also begun not using dry-cask 21 to store spent fuel and that the heavy metal in concrete 22 casks rests on concrete pads adjacent to the reactor 23 facility. My understanding is that this type of storage 24 is not as safe as underground in water. Now, we know 25 that a lot of this has come because Yucca Mountain cannot NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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87 1 accept the nuclear waste that was envisioned when the 2 plant was created. But nonetheless, we have to deal with 3 the reality of what this means in storing these casks 4 above ground.
5 Two: the unusual high number of leaks or 6 shutdowns and other indications of mismanagement of the 7 facility has compromised the safety for the community 8 around it and the apparent continuation of its 9 radioactive leaks is indicated that Indian Point is not 10 responsibly dealing with the environmental and safety 11 aspect of this plant.
12 Three: the plant falls on a fault-line creating 13 an earthquake risk, which means that if there is an 14 earthquake and storage facilities are not adequate that 15 radiation will go throughout the community.
16 Four: again, it's not Indian Point's initial 17 problem because they didn't build the plant, but the fact 18 is that it is perilously close to high population areas.
19 Five: there is the possibility of the 20 continuation of radioactive leaks and further 21 contamination into the Hudson River.
22 Six: even though we're now in the year 2009, 23 the threats that were created in 2001, still exist and 24 are still a problem, especially when you're talking about 25 aboveground storage of spent nuclear waste.
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88 1 And seven: we don't know and I don't think from 2 what I've seen that the report adequately deals with the 3 fact that you're now going to have a plant that's 40 to 4 60 years old. And we don't have a very good safety 5 record dealing with the first 40 years, and I think that 6 the NRC needs to look at this as well.
7 We all take risks every day. Even driving here 8 to make this statement involved risk. But we must 9 evaluate the risk/reward ratio and make a determination.
10 The NRC also must make a determination as to the 11 continued safety and viability of having Indian Point 12 operate for another 20 years. Based on the risks 13 outlined above as well as other risks that have been 14 discussed in these reports, it would seem incumbent upon 15 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in its primary goal of 16 excellence in regulating safe and secure management of 17 radioactive materials for the public good to turn down 18 the application for the re-licensing of Indian Point.
19 Thank you.
20 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, do we have Sean Murray, 21 trustee Village of Buchanan? Sean, if you are here?
22 Okay, Peter Pockriss from the historic Hudson Valley.
23 Okay, the crowd has thinned out quite a lot. So, Andrew 24 Fraiser from NextGen Network. Okay, let's go with Andrew 25 and then I will try -- I can't read this one, so I'll NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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89 1 have to comeback. Andrew.
2 MR. FRAISER: Great, good afternoon everyone.
3 My name is Andrew Fraiser and I'm a member of the NextGen 4 Network. I've served in various leadership positions 5 over the years. The NextGen Network has partnered with 6 Entergy for several years. The Entergy Corporation has 7 upheld a high standard of corporate citizenship and has 8 remained an influential supporter of the communities it 9 serves.
10 Entergy Nuclear's support of the NextGen 11 Network is one example of its commitment to communities 12 of color. It's partnership has enabled our organization 13 to continue to provide world-class career and 14 professional development and community service 15 opportunities, while continuing to be a point of 16 connectivity within the African-American community.
17 Through Entergy, the nuclear partnership with NextGen 18 Network, we were able to fill a much-needed void by 19 providing mentoring and scholarships to deserving 20 individuals.
21 Entergy Nuclear has a role ensuring that 22 African-American high school students can take full 23 advantage of higher education opportunities and receive 24 coaching and mentoring in doing so. This shows how much 25 they care about the culture in the diverse community and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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90 1 an inclusive global marketplace. With the help of 2 Entergy Nuclear, we have been able to offer 15 3 scholarships to individuals at nationally accredited 4 universities each year for the past five years.
5 The NextGen Network has reach thousands of 6 students as well as over 700 students have submitted 7 essays and participated in our business case 8 competitions. Both competitions encourage seniors in 9 high school around the country to think critically and to 10 address important issues regarding the environmental 11 justice, climate change and nuclear power and taking a 12 look at how that can impact and lessen the disparate 13 impact on the minority communities around the country.
14 The NextGen Network has also been able to attract highly 15 respected senior business leaders seeking our knowledge 16 and expertise in developing African-American 17 professionals, who possess business acumen, as wellas 18 community consciousness.
19 Our membership has been recognized in part 20 because of Entergy's continued support, which enables 21 members to reach back in service to generations of 22 leaders who follow us. Because of our mission to develop 23 African-American leaders, the NextGen Network believes 24 our communities are best served by leaders who are 25 thoroughly knowledgeable about the gamut of zero NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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91 1 emissions energy standards and sources. If we are to 2 ensure the health of our communities as an important part 3 of this ongoing conversation about strategies to improve 4 air quality and the health of our communities throughout 5 New York, the Indian Point facility is a critical source 6 for the region. We appreciate the opportunity to provide 7 feedback about Entergy Nuclear's record of corporate 8 citizenship and good environmental stewardship. Thank 9 you.
10 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, I believe that Peter 11 Pockriss from Historic Hudson Valley has joined us. So, 12 Peter, if you could please come up. Then we'll go to 13 Andrea Dherman. And then to Judy Allen from IPSEC.
14 MR. POCKRISS: Good afternoon. I'm Peter 15 Pockriss, Director of Development for Historic Hudson 16 Valley. And I appreciate the opportunity to say a few 17 words to you today. We're a non-profit organization that 18 operates six historic sites along the Hudson River, 19 including Van Cortlandt Manor, which is not too far from 20 here and is the site of the great Jack-o-lantern Blaze 21 which many of you may be familiar with. Our museum 22 properties are treasured community resources. They're 23 tourist destinations that attract thousands of visitors 24 from across the world. They are learning laboratories 25 that serves some 35,000 school children a year. Many NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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92 1 from disadvantaged backgrounds. Entergy has been a 2 longtime philanthropic investor in our mission. The 3 companies partnership has enabled us to launch the great 4 Jack-o-lantern Blaze and Winter Wonderlights. These 5 family events have become cherished holiday traditions 6 for the people of our communities. These heritage 7 tourism events are also important engines of the local 8 economy.
9 Many of the 85,000 people who attended last 10 year stayed in area hotels, dined in restaurants and 11 shopped on our main streets. Blaze and Wonderlights 12 have also had a tremendous impact on Historic Hudson 13 Valley's own work, boosting revenue, our membership base 14 and awareness about our sites and educational programs.
15 Entergy truly represents the gold standard for corporate 16 philanthropy here in Westchester County. Historic Hudson 17 Valley and other non-profits across the county and across 18 the nation have benefited from millions of dollars in 19 philanthropic support from Entergy.
20 But beyond contributed dollars, we also benefit 21 in a variety of other meaningful ways. From the guidance 22 and expertise of the leadership team at Entergy's 23 regional headquarters. From the volunteer hours donated 24 by Indian Point employees. From Entergy sponsored 25 workshops and seminars, which empower our staffs. From NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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93 1 networking opportunities, which foster greater 2 cooperation among those of us in the non-profit sector.
3 And from promotional initiatives that drive people to our 4 programs and our events. All of us at Historic Hudson 5 Valley are proud to call Entergy a friend, a committed 6 neighbor and a partner in our efforts to enrich the 7 quality of life along the Hudson. It's our great hope to 8 continue to work side-by-side with Entergy for many years 9 to come. Thank you.
10 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, the next card I have is 11 Andrea Dherman. Is it Sherman? I apologize, okay. Next 12 we'll go to Judy Allen from IPSEC. And third to John 13 Federspiel from Hudson Valley Hospital Center.
14 MS. SHERMAN: Good afternoon. My name is Andrea 15 Sherman and I'm a resident of the city of White Plains, 16 Westchester County, New York. Since moving to the county 17 in 2001, I have kept a watchful eye on news stories of 18 the Indian Point nuclear power plant and I'm here today 19 to lend my comments as a citizen to the discussion of its 20 re-licensing. To be brief, the issue at hand seems to be 21 one of risks, benefits and alternatives. Undeniably, 22 Indian Point brings benefits of the region. It provides 23 a source of energy to fuel our consumption, which is a 24 precious commodity, as we know. It also brings economic 25 benefits to its parent company Entergy. To the employees NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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94 1 who depend on it for their livelihood and to the 2 surrounding local towns and other communities who enjoy 3 lower taxes and other economic benefits from having the 4 plant in their midst. These benefits are all positive 5 and no one is disputing that.
6 However, when one looks at the risk column, 7 suddenly these economic benefits begin to pale in 8 comparison to the overwhelming risks to health and safety 9 imposed on an entire region of millions by the close 10 proximity of such a potentially toxic entity as the 11 Indian Point nuclear plant. Whether through unfortunate 12 technical accident, all too common human error, 13 unforeseeable natural disaster, terrifying attack or the 14 aftermath of the parent company's decision someday to 15 divest itself of this asset, the devastation to both life 16 and habitat in our region would be catastrophic and 17 largely irreversible, certainly for this generation and 18 possibly for generations to come.
19 Since the long-term risks to health and safety 20 outweigh the shorter-term and mutable economic 21 considerations, I urge, no, I plead with Entergy and our 22 government officials to seek similar economic benefits by 23 means of reasonable alternatives to the operation of a 24 hazardous nuclear power plant in New York. Speaking as a 25 citizen, my vote will follow those who recognize and act NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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95 1 on this imperative. To address the concerns raised by so 2 many of today's speakers, there are other ways to keep 3 energy affordable and to improve air quality without 4 exposing our region to the dangers of nuclear production.
5 It would be morally bankrupt for our government to permit 6 primarily economic interests to co-opt those of public 7 health, safety and environmental integrity. Safer 8 alternatives can be sought if there is the public and 9 political will to do so. Thank you for allowing me to 10 speak today.
11 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we now have Judy Allen from 12 IPSEC and then we'll go to John Federspiel from Hudson 13 Valley Hospital Center and third to Betty Cypser, Raging 14 Grannies.
15 MS. ALLEN: Hi, I'm Judy Allen. I live in 16 Putnam Valley. I do not get any electricity from Indian 17 Point because Putnam County does not. However, I live 14 18 miles away from the plant. So, I am actually going to 19 address the environmental impact and I would like to see 20 who are the people here from the NRC, so I know who I'm 21 talking to? Okay, thank you very much. The slide that 22 I'm addressing is the Example Common Issue: Radiological 23 Impacts and it says, Preliminary findings: no new and 24 significant information. GEIS conducted impacts are 25 SMALL. So, you're not going to want to know about the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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96 1 Wall Street article in November 21st that says, surprise 2 drop in power worries utilities. You're not going to 3 want to know about cover story in Time of December 31st 4 that says, America's untapped energy resource boosting 5 efficiency. This is not about conservation. This is not 6 about putting on a sweater or turning the lights off.
7 This is just about increased efficiency.
8 You're not going to know about, you're not 9 going to want to know about the study on rising child 10 leukemia rates near U.S. nuclear plants because Joe 11 Mangano, I believe is going to be submitting written 12 information about that. So, what I'm going to talk about 13 is the study that faults regulators for relying on 14 reference-man radiation dose standard. A study from the 15 Institute for Energy and Environment Research indicates 16 that U.S. radiation exposure regulations and compliance 17 assessment guidelines often underestimate the risk of 18 radiation for women and children because they are based 19 on standards of the reference-man. A hypothetical 20 to 20 30 year old white male. Could I have a show of hands 21 please, how many people fall into that category of 20 to 22 30 year old white male. That's one. Anyone else?
23 Okay, so at least three federal agencies: the 24 Environmental Protection Agency, Nuclear Regulatory 25 Commission and Department of Energy, still use reference-NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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97 1 man criteria to guide radiation dose regulations and 2 compliance assessment. A woman is 52% more likely than a 3 man to develop cancer from the same radiation doses 4 according to the study. Children are at greater risk 5 than adults. A female infant has about an 11 times 6 greater chance of eventually developing cancer than a 30-7 year-old male in the same radiation dose. Pregnant women 8 and the developing fetus are particularly vulnerable, but 9 non-cancer reproductive effects are generally not part of 10 U.S. regulatory framework for radiation production.
11 Okay, so, the last thing about this in the 12 report recommends that compliance with radiation 13 protection always the estimated by calculating doses for 14 those at greatest risk. It calls for a significant 15 reduction in the maximum allowable dose to the general 16 public from 100 mrem per year to 25 mrem per year. So, I 17 believe that would be considered new information and I 18 will hope that the NRC will consider that new information 19 in determining whether Indian Point should be re-licensed 20 and after 20 years. Thank you very much.
21 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to John Federspiel 22 from the Hudson Valley Hospital Center. Then to Betty 23 Cypser and Valery Karamaty from the Raging Grannies.
24 MR. FEDERSPIEL: Okay, thank you. My name is 25 John Federspiel and I am the president at the Hudson NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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98 1 Valley Hospital Center. Hudson Valley Hospital Center is 2 a major health care provider in the region, as well as an 3 emergency planning partner working closely with Entergy 4 employees and many first responders throughout the area 5 as part of Indian Point's emergency planning program.
6 Since Entergy purchased Indian Point, this partnership 7 between the hospital and the site has grown exponentially 8 to the benefit of the residents we both serve.
9 For example, when we were seeking a substantial 10 investment for upgrading the hospital's existing 11 emergency room into a full-service state-of-the-art 24-12 hour No Wait emergency department, Entergy was there for 13 us. And today I'm proud to say, we have one of the 14 finest emergency rooms in the entire New York 15 metropolitan region.
16 Over the years, this partnership as grown 17 beyond a donor and charity relationship to Entergy 18 providing insightful training and true community 19 leadership to our boards, physicians, nurses and the 20 entire staff of the Hudson Valley Hospital Center. We 21 are a stronger health-care provider because of their 22 presence in the community and would rather not think of 23 how we would survive without the low-cost power the site 24 provides, as well as the substantial investments Entergy 25 makes into the local health-care system. The short-term NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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99 1 outlook for health-care in New York State is dire. And 2 the long-term prognosis is becoming even worse. We 3 cannot afford to lose one of the area's few remaining 4 economic lifelines. That is why on behalf of the 5 employees and the entire Hudson Valley Hospital Center 6 family, I strongly recommend extending the license of 7 Indian Point for another 20 years. Thank you.
8 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, I've got Betty Cypser and 9 Valery Karamaty from the Raging Grannies. And then we'll 10 go to John Yanofsky from the Paramount Center for the 11 Arts.
12 MS. CYPSER: This afternoon, we represent the 13 Raging Grannies and their friends of Westchester, New 14 York. The Raging Grannies are in international protest 15 group that works for peace, the environment, social and 16 economic justice. We work to make the world a better 17 place for all the grandchildren and their grandchildren.
18 We express our thoughts on issues through new lyrics to 19 old familiar tunes.
20 Many people in this country say that nuclear 21 energy is safe enough and green enough, but what does the 22 rest of the world say? What do they say when 23 representatives from all of the countries of the world 24 gather and discuss all the facets of the issue? They 25 refused to give nuclear energy greenhouse gas credits at NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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100 1 the U.N. Climate Change in the Hague in November 2000.
2 They refused to label nuclear energy a sustainable 3 technology at the U.N. Sustainable Development Conference 4 in April 2001. We support replacing Indian Point with 5 solar generated by private residences and businesses.
6 New York State allows us to run our electric meters 7 backwards. Europe is moving ahead with sustainable 8 energy and we can too.
9 MS. KARAMATY: I am against nuclear toxicity.
10 my complaint is about the destructive power of nuclear 11 waste. First, there is no guarantee of its safety when 12 nuclear waste is in transit. There are no realistic 13 plans for cleanup of a spill or accident of a truckload 14 or trainload of nuclear waste.
15 Secondly, there is no place to store the waste.
16 The Native Americans don't want it on their lands. No 17 place on earth wants it. And we cannot send it to outer 18 space as it might return. What goes up, must come down.
19 Thirdly, what I find to be the worst thing 20 about nuclear waste is that it has been used for 21 hardening the tips of bunker bombs and reliable 22 replacement warheads. These weapons have been used 23 against the civilians in Iraq because they penetrate 24 deeper and kill and maim with more intensity. Can the 25 Iraqi people ever forgive us? Do people who make or use NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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101 1 electricity from a nuclear power plant ever think about 2 where the waste product goes and about the people who 3 have been destroyed or may be~destroyed in the future?
4 Seeing we're Raging Grannies, we have a song that we're 5 going to sing.
6 MS. CYPSER: Try.
7 MS. KARAMATY: That we're going to try and sing 8 and we have one mic, and we don't sing that well. So --
9 MS. CYPSER & MS. KARAMATY [singing]: Would you 10 like a world safe and clean, where the air is fresh good 11 to breathe, and the water's so sweet to drink or would 12 you rather have a nuke? A nuke is an industry that piles 13 up its waste, which leaks from containers to the ground.
14 The terrorists know, where it's to be found and blowing 15 it up kills for miles around. Eons pass before poison 16 leaves the ground. There is no place to store the waste.
17 Would you like to have your home warm, with your power 18 from earth and sun, that costs almost nothing to run 19 compared to what you pay for nukes? A nuke is a 20 monstrosity that we all finance. It sucks all us 21 taxpayers dry. It costs less to build and more to fix, 22 to keep it going takes a lot of tricks. And by the way 23 if you count external costs, it's quite a monetary loss.
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102 1 or did you know we have a nuke? Our nukes have emissions 2 that have poisoned our air, we've more thyroid woes than 3 our fair share. We're told it's safe and we know it's 4 not. Evacuation plan don't work, it's rot. And by the 5 way, if the sirens ever blow, there will be millions dead 6 and gone. Would you like your groundwater pure? Want to 7 drink be healthy still for sure? Eat fish without 8 needing a cure or would you rather have a nuke? Our nuke 9 makes the riverwater too hot for fish, endangered ones we 10 are sure to miss. The cooling pipes leak. You don't 11 hear much about. Fish eggs and fish in, radiation out.
12 The antiquated coolers poison us and the fish. It's all 13 because we have a nuke. Do you want your world safe and 14 sane. Government for the people are game? By the will 15 of the people we are bound, people want that nuke shut 16 down. Or don't you wish we had no nuke?
17 MS. KARAMATY: In case you didn't see our sign, 18 it says, Nuclear Waste Is Unhealthy for Human Beings As 19 Well As for Fish. But down at the bottom in small print 20 it says, Save Jobs: Transform Nuclear Plants To Solar and 21 Wind.
22 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, let's go to John Yanofsky 23 from the Paramount Center for the Arts, then to Dan 24 McCann, Hendrick Hudson School District and third to 25 Brian Skanes from the Boys and Girls Club.
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103 1 MR. YANOFSKY: Boy, that's a tough act to follow 2 and I'm in the performing arts. I'm violating the 3 cardinal rule which is never follow a great act. But my 4 name is John Yanofsky and I'm here under three auspices.
5 The first is I'm the executive director of the 6 Paramount Center for the Arts, which is a non-profit 7 organization housed in an historic theater built in 1930 8 located in downtown Peekskill. I'm also a board member 9 of the Westchester Arts Council, which now goes by the 10 name of Arts Westchester, which is a countywide 11 organization that not only re-grants to non-profits 12 throughout the county, but also does an extensive amount 13 of direct services and programs out of their headquarters 14 in downtown White Plains. And thirdly, I'm a homeowner 15 and resident here in Peekskill.
16 I am here to strongly urge the renewal of the 17 Indian Point license. The parent company of Indian 18 Point, Entergy has been a model corporate citizen to the 19 Paramount, to Arts Westchester, to dozens of arts 20 organizations through out the region as well as non-21 profits. There are few corporations in the county who do 22 more for the non-profit sector than Entergy. Their 23 commitment to the quality-of-life issues that we all face 24 is reflected in their demonstrative commitment to 25 supporting essential programs and services that non-NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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104 1 profits like the Paramount provide and serve in the 2 community and to our residents. Specifically with 3 respect to the Paramount, Entergy was there for our 4 organization during a very critical period when we began 5 our revitalization and restoration of our historic 6 theater and they were the lead supporter of our ability 7 to renovate a historic theater, which now draws tens of 8 thousands of people to downtown Peekskill to support 9 local businesses and restaurants and have become, our 10 theater has become a major anchor to the downtown 11 revitalization in Peekskill. We could not have 12 accomplished that without the support of Entergy.
13 I've also had the personal honor and privilege 14 to serve with several Entergy employees in my role as a 15 board member of Arts Westchester, as well as on the Board 16 of Trustees at the Paramount Center. In addition to 17 volunteers and colleagues that I've come into contact 18 with, not only through my work at the Paramount, but in 19 other organizations who donate their time and services to 20 the quality-of-life and improving the quality of life in 21 our county. Entergy's support is also instrumental to 22 the vitality of other arts organizations, as I alluded 23 to. And certainly, given our current financial 24 situations becomes even more desperate and dire 25 situation. For some organization's, Entergy's support NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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105 1 really means and make the difference between staying open 2 and closing its doors. As a business professional, as a 3 resident of this county, someone who lives and works here 4 and has dedicated his professional life to the ongoing 5 improvement through culture and artistic expression, I 6 strongly urge the NRC to re-license Indian Point for 7 another 20 years and to keep Entergy a vital force in our 8 communities and in the lives of our county. Thank you.
9 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, if we can have Dan McCann, 10 Hendrick Hudson School District and then we'll go to 11 Brian Skanes from the Boys and Girls Club and third to 12 Michael Lee, Council on Intelligent Energy and 13 Conservation Policy.
14 DR. MCCANN: Good afternoon. My name is Dr.
15 Daniel and I'm the superintendent of schools for the 16 Hendrick Hudson School District. The district 17 encompasses many of the communities surrounding Indian 18 Point. Including Buchanan, Verplanck, Krugers, Montrose, 19 Cortland Manor, Croton and part of the city of Peekskill.
20 Many of these residents were students themselves of the 21 Hendrick Hudson school's and they send their children, if 22 not their grandchildren, to our school's. We strive for 23 excellence by ensuring every student receives a quality 24 education and that includes providing a balanced view of 25 the world. Encompassing all opinions and ideas, in such NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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106 1 a way, or I should say, that has not always been a case 2 in a debate over the future of Indian Point. In fact, 3 Indian Point's story is a rich part of the region's 4 history and certainly a large part of its growth and 5 success as a thriving community. The site remains a 6 considerable component in the economic expansion of the 7 area because Indian Point provides a firm financial 8 foundation upon which we maintain and continuously evolve 9 a well respected school district, a homeowner's main 10 yardstick for measuring the current viability and future 11 value of a home. Those men and women who tolled on the 12 construction of the two Indian Point plants remain in the 13 area and laid down roots.
14 Today, area residents are operating the site, 15 guarding the parameter, maintaining the site's critical 16 systems. Even serving lunch in the cafeteria. They are 17 taxpaying residents, members of the PTA, coaches on our 18 fields, and are even those who buy the baked goods during 19 our local fund-raising efforts. We teach our students 20 about the importance of service to the community and 21 Entergy employees clearly represent a fine example of 22 getting involved and staying involved. As much as we 23 look at the past and present, we also teach our students 24 about looking towards the future. Now the consequences 25 of actions today will impact the future. The NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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107 1 consequences of today's recession are forcing many school 2 districts throughout Westchester County to consider the 3 impact on tomorrow's educational programs. So too are 4 we, as we consider the impact of potential higher 5 electricity costs, reductions in state aid and a quickly 6 diminishing tax base on the quality of education we 7 provide to our children.
8 When taking all the facts into consideration, 9 there is no more direct way of saying it than the loss of 10 Indian Point will simply devastate the quality and depth 11 of education we provide to the students we proudly served 12 in this community. Indian Point is a major source of 13 low-cost power for us and provides a stabilizing revenue 14 stream to the district. It provides 28% of the revenue 15 of our schools.
16 We welcome the site's employees as neighbors 17 and enjoy their participation in the educational process 18 of our children. Over the years, Indian Point has been 19 very generous to our schools. Their donations to our 20 schools have provided lights on our athletic fields, 21 outdoor education programs and textbooks in our 22 classrooms. All of the gifts to our schools are too 23 numerous to mention. Our community greatly appreciates 24 their generosity. The students of this community demand 25 thoughtful discussion of the future of Indian Point and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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108 1 so at a minimum, we owe them a civil debate and well 2 reasoned facts. That is why I'm asking the Commission to 3 remain faithful to this process, demonstrating to the 4 Hendrick Hudson school students that when all is said and 5 done, this will be a fair, honest and open debate. Thank 6 you for the opportunity to speak to you this afternoon.
7 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll now go to Brian 8 Skanes, I was corrected, of the Boys and Girls Club.
9 Then Michael Lee and third to Terry Kardos.
10 MR. SKANES: Good afternoon. I'm not going to 11 sing to you although I did notice the grannies got about 12 seven or eight minutes. I guess that's the trick, if you 13 sing, you get a longer time. I'm Brian Skanes and like 14 John Yanofsky, I wear a number of hats. Number one, I'm 15 a 10 year resident of Mount Kisco. I'm the executive 16 director to the Boys and Girls Club of Northern 17 Westchester. I'm also a member of the local Rotary Club, 18 the Business Council, the Westchester Community 19 Association, member of the President's Council of 20 Northern Westchester Hospital Center, but more 21 importantly, I'm a really concerned citizen.
22 I have to say, I'm very encouraged about what 23 I've heard today on the positive side. I think it's been 24 mentioned many times and all the reasons why I too 25 believe that we have re-license Indian Point. Especially NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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109 1 because of, in my role as executive director of the Boys 2 and Girls Club's, 3500 kids who come from better than the 3 best circumstances, they really need the corporate 4 partner that Entergy really offers our organization.
5 It's been mentioned before, not only the Boys and Girls 6 Club, but non-profit after non-profit after non-profit 7 benefit from the employees who help us on our boards and 8 come to our events. The financial support we get, and by 9 the way, in 35 years of working in Boys and Girls Club's 10 and working with all kinds of corporations, I can say 11 without hesitation, that Entergy is the best corporation 12 working with non-profits that I have ever seen. The non-13 profit summit they run every year. The opportunity to go 14 to Yankee Stadium and be part of some marketing and 15 public relations training and also the opportunity to 16 receive some pro bono advertising. All these things add 17 into a lot of good things for kids in this community and 18 that's why I stand for and support re-licensing Indian 19 Point. Again. Thank you.
20 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to Michael Lee from 21 the Council on Intelligent Energy and Conservation 22 Policy. I'm sorry, Michel. Sorry about that. Next 23 we'll go to Terry Kardos and third to Susan Shapiro from 24 the Sierra Club.
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.110 1 because my group does not receive funding from Entergy.
2 However, I did represent Wall Street and the tobacco 3 industry for 20 years, so I'm very well aware of how easy 4 it is to buy support. I would like to devote my points 5 simply to what the purpose of this meeting is, which is 6 the EIS report, the draft report. I'll make four main 7 points. I'll make them quickly.
8 First of all, the no action alternative 9 analysis is inadequate, incomplete and cursory. The 10 principle data relied upon by Entergy is from Entergy, 11 which is a self-serving environmental report and from 12 some hand cherry picked reports from the Department of 13 Energy. It's completely ignores, not just hundreds, but 14 thousands of reports that have come out in recent years 15 from major universities as well as from the United States 16 National Renewables Laboratories about the numerous 17 alternatives to Indian Point which would be available, 18 which would put us truly on the path of a clean 19 sustainable energy future. Which I'm sorry, but giving 20 money to coal and to nuclear does not do.
21 Number two, the draft EIS completely ignores 22 the impact of global warning upon the Hudson River 23 ecosystem particularly the affects of warming and the 24 interaction of that warming with the fish and other 25 aquatic populations.
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i1 I Number three, the report ignores potential, and 2 I would argue almost inevitable, long-term impact of 3 spent-fuel kept on premises. The evidence supports the 4 conclusion that the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant site 5 will become a permanent high-level nuclear waste dump on 6 the banks of the Hudson River and it is absolutely 7 egregious omission of duty on the part of the NRC staff 8 not to even examine this issue or to give it any kind of 9 consideration whatsoever. That it in fact suggests very 10 strongly that this draft report is nothing else but a 11 rubberstamp for this re-licensing.
12 And number four, my final point, is that the 13 fact that the environmental impact ignores, again 14 completely ignores, the possibility and the impact of an 15 accident and what the real effects of an accident, 16 including the NRC's own studies, as well as ignoring that 17 possible effects on the environment and public health of 18 another terrorist attack, particularly in light of the 19 events of 9/11, absolutely unethical. Thank you.
20 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, we'll go to Terry Kardos and 21 then to Susan Shapiro.
22 MS. KARDOS: Good afternoon my name is Terry 23 Kardos. I'm a 20-year resident of Cortlandt Manor. For 24 the past 15 years, I have worked as an environmental and 25 outdoor educator, mainly teaching about nature to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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112 1 children at Teatown Lake Reservation for the town of 2 Cortlandt recreation department and in other capacities, 3 but I'd like to emphasize I'm here speaking on my own 4 behalf. I am here to oppose the re-licensing of Indian 5 Point. I agree with the comments of the New York State 6 representative, Riverkeeper, Clearwater, the Sierra Club 7 and the Grannies. I'm sort of sorry that it looks like 8 our visitors, or most of the visitors, for New York City 9 have left because I would like to say, I share their 10 concerns about air quality. I would not like to see any 11 kind of fossil fuel power plant in replacement, but I 12 just hope that these people are as pro-active in their 13 opposition to increased vehicle traffic in the City and 14 increased development in the City as they are supportive 15 of Nuclear Plant re-licensing.
16 I'd also like to say that these concerns about 17 air quality and keeping the price of electricity low are 18 going to be completely irrelevant if there is a major 19 accident with radioactive release as the area will become 20 uninhabitable. I am puzzled that in considering 21 alternative energy sources, tidal power was not 22 considered, since the Hudson River is tidal all the way 23 up to the Troy dam. It seems to me that this avenue 24 should be explored. While I do question the data 25 analysis of the NRC as to the impacts on aquatic life, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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113 1 even they admit that there are some impacts that range to 2 large, especially on endangered species. However, in 3 light of the fact that we are already starting to 4 experience the negative effects of climate change, it is 5 quite likely that what are estimated to be small effects 6 today, will become large ones with the increased stresses 7 of climate change on ecosystems. Estimated large effects 8 could become catastrophic. I think we also have to pay a 9 lot more attention to conservation, perhaps in the short 10 term, there shouldn't be a limit on how late into the 11 night Christmas lights should go. Maybe even the lights 12 in Times Square, but I think there are viable 13 alternatives besides relicensing Indian Point. Thank 14 you.
15 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, Susan Shapiro from the 16 Sierra Club and Ms. Shapiro is the last card that I have 17 as anyone who registered to speak. So if someone wants 18 to try to duck in the last couple minutes of the meeting, 19 stick your hand up now and I can bring a card to you.
20 Oh, that was more than I was expecting. Okay, Ms.
21 Shapiro.
22 MS. SHAPIRO: Yes, hi. I represent the Sierra 23 Club and before I get into my comments on the draft EIS, 24 which I believe this meeting was for, I want to 25 congratulate Entergy on there really great PR campaign NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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114 1 for giving lots of money to not-for-profits that came 2 here today to call for their support, which is not what 3 this meeting was really about and I think there was a lot 4 of misinformation that was told to these groups and I 5 think that's a sad comment on Entergy though. I hope the 6 NRC understands that, you know, if you use money to pay 7 for people to come and support you that doesn't mean that 8 is a public safety evaluation. I also wanted to say I'm 9 sorry these people left from the City, but the reality is 10 no one who is calling for the closure of Indian Point for 11 safety reasons believes that we should be putting coal-12 fired plants that would increase asthma in their 13 communities or any community. That's never been a 14 replacement factor. Going to the GETS, which I believe 15 is an incomplete and inadequate document because, there 16 are a few reasons, which I'll go through.
17 The first one is that it doesn't consider the 18 long-term impacts of this new superseding license that 19 Entergy is planning to grant with regard to seismology 20 evacuation possibility and the increased population 21 density in this area. Because it is a new license as 22 acknowledged by Entergy, these factors must be 23 considered. The EIS and the re-licensing document does 24 not consider those and therefore it's fully inadequate 25 and incomplete. This environmental report also does not NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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115 1 include the fact that Entergy nor the NRC actually knows 2 the current licensing basis of the plant at the moment.
3 They don't actually have that knowledge because over of 4 the time, the last 40 years the plant has been operating, 5 they've been granting exemption on top of exemption on 6 top of exemption on top of exemption on safety standards 7 at the plant. So, it's running not at design basis.
8 Those issues will be carried over into the new 9 superseding license period. That must be included in the 10 EIS because those are large impacts when you have a 11 degraded system.
12 For example, currently, the fire safety 13 standards at Indian Point are highly degraded. They 14 exempted, NRC granted an exemption from a one-hour fire 15 rating because the rack that was used was inadequate and 16 they allow them now to operate with a 24-minute fire 17 rating. Which means, if there's a fire in this crucial 18 part of the planet that's needed for safe shutdown, you 19 have to detect and put out the fire within 24-minutes or 20 there'll be a melt down. That's what we in this area and 21 all of the New York City people are living under that 22 danger. The other things that have been recently 23 exempted in the last year are that the spent-fuel pool, 24 which we know is leaking, which has been acknowledged to 25 be leaking, they cannot inspect 60% of it. They could NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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116 1 inspect it, but the cost to Entergy, the cost analysis to 2 Entergy is too much. So the NRC has granted an 3 exemption. That makes this report highly incomplete and 4 inaccurate. Without a full inspection of the spent-fuel 5 pool that is known to be leaking, this report is not 6 complete.
7Further, they called it a relaxation of the 8 standards, to inspect a design basis required inspection, 9 which is the rust in the dome. They know there's rust in 10 the dome. Five years ago they got an extension for this 11 inspection. Now, they decided this year it's too 12 difficult, it's too expensive, to actually inspect this.
13 So, they've given them a permanent, permanent, which 14 means they will never inspect this part of the plant, 15 which is known to have rust in the dome. Which is truly 16 an aging management problem. They've granted that as an 17 exemption. These have great, large environmental impacts 18 which are not included in this. Additionally, 60% of the 19 underground piping at Indian Point and the cables are not 20 being inspected. Further, the last two things I'd to 21 mention is that recently at Indian Point a small camera, 22 a digital camera, actually shut down the plant because 23 when Indian Point was built there were no RF signals.
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117 1 how they're going to deal with new technologies. Like 2 cell phones and cameras and various RF signals that are 3 going to be used by outside contractors and visitors to 4 the plant. Finally, the overall problem with this report 5 is that it is done on a cost-benefit analysis basis, 6 which is a violation of NEPA. They actually evaluate how 7 much the cost to the benefit to the public, to the safety 8 of the public. That's not the way you do an 9 environmental impact statement. So, this reliance on the 10 cost to the industry versus the safety to the public 11 makes this report incomplete and inadequate. So, 12 basically, I would request that -- there'll be one more 13 pass at this report? I don't think you're ready to do the 14 final pass. I think you need another step. I think 15 there's got to be another draft because you're far from 16 there. Thank you.
17 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you for your comments. I 18 had three additional speakers who wished to take the 19 microphone, Mark Jacobs from IPSEC, John Sullivan and 20 Nancy Burton from the Mothers Milk Project. So, Mr.
21 Jacobs.
22 MR. JACOBS: Thank you. My name is Mark Jacobs.
23 Most of you know me. I live within 5 miles of Indian 24 Point. I work within 5 miles of Indian Point. There is 25 no financial interest that I receive from trying to close NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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118 1 down the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, which should 2 indeed be closed down. Now, I listened to a lot of 3 speakers here today. I was late because I had to work.
4 I listened to others to hear what had been spoken about 5 today. You know, the most amazing thing is very little 6 of what this meeting is supposed to be about was spoken 7 about here today. Now, there are two points about that.
8 One point is that Entergy did a really good job 9 of bringing all of the groups that they have paid off to 10 come, without any research, without any knowledge, 11 particularly about the dangers or threats of Indian 12 Point, without any knowledge about the potential 13 environmental hazards of Indian Point. They've gotten 14 the these groups to come here and say, Entergy's Indian 15 Point is a good neighbor. And why are they good?
16 They're good because they have given us money and helped 17 our programs. Well, it's great that Entergy is giving 18 back the tiniest fraction of the million dollars per day 19 per reactor profit that they are receiving from these 20 plants. But I hope that nobody lets themselves be 21 deluded that this has any significance whatsoever on 22 whether Indian Point is safe or not safe.
23 Now the second reason that nobody's talking 24 about, what this meeting is supposed to be about, is 25 because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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119 1 guidance of the nuclear industry, has done a very good job 2 of limiting what is to be discussed at this meeting, so 3 that almost nothing of significance can be discussed 4 here. In the broader sense, we're here to talk about the 5 environment, but when you look at the specific 6 environmental impacts we can talk about, we can only talk 7 about a very small fraction of the ones that are going to 8 cause the grave impact on my community and many of your 9 community who live here. And to me, that is awful.
10 To me that is a the large number of people 11 working for our government and the Nuclear Regulatory 12 Commission who are taking their paycheck in the same way 13 that the organizations are taking the contributions from 14 Entergy and they're not standing up and saying, what I'm 15 seeing is not acceptable and it is not worth the money 16 they pay me to work for an agency that is not going to do 17 its job to regulate. And that's what the NRC doesn't do.
18 It doesn't regulate. So I urge any of you who are left 19 sitting here to stand up and walk away from your agency 20 and find a way to help the environment, to help your 21 society in a way that is not with a captured agency and 22 that's what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is. Thank 23 you.
24 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, our last two speakers for 25 the afternoon will be John Sullivan and then Nancy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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120 1 Burton. Mr. Sullivan.
2 MR. SULLIVAN: Hi, I'm John Sullivan. I live 3 probably about 2 miles from the plant. I have been here 4 before. I've been on the list serve for IPSEC, but I'm 5 really here for my own self. I just want to add my voice 6 to the fact that I believe that the license should not be 7 extended. I think the most egregious error of the report 8 is that it does not look into the future. The reality is 9 we are going to have nuclear waste on this site for the 10 next hundred years and unless that is addressed in the 11 report, it's incomplete.
12 I'd also like to extend the challenge to the 13 folks that do get money from IPSEC, that are supported, 14 that feel that -- I'm sorry, not IPSEC, from Entergy, 15 that feel that Entergy is a good corporate citizen.
16 People in the environmental movement, IPSEC, Riverkeeper, 17 have proposed many things that would make the plants 18 safer. God forbid from my point of view, if in fact the 19 plant is re-licensed, these things should be put into 20 place. A closed-water cooling tower. Hardened onsite 21 storage of nuclear waste and with deterrents for 22 terrorist attacks. Please speak to your corporate 23 sponsor and urge them to do the right thing and not just 24 by good publicity. Thank you.
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121 1 afternoon will been Nancy Burton from the Mother's Milk 2 Project and then I'll ask Bo Pham to come up and give a 3 closing. So, Ms. Burton.
4 MS. BURTON: Thank You. Good afternoon. I'm 5 Nancy Burton and I've come here all the way from Redding, 6 Connecticut with three pales of mine: Cindy-Lou and Luna 7 and The Dude. They are outside in the car for anybody 8 would like to make their acquaintance. I'm here on 9 behalf of the Mother's Milk Project, which was launched 10 this past June involving New York and Connecticut 11 directors.
12 Our purpose is to collect and sample, at a 13 certified laboratory, milk that is collected from 14 mothers, including human mothers. This has never been 15 done before on a formal basis by citizens near a nuclear 16 power plant. We're also collecting milk from mammals, 17 including goats and cows and sheep and any other mammals, 18 who are willing to share their milk with us. The reason 19 we are doing this is that Entergy is not. Entergy does 20 not engage in any sampling of milk as part of its 21 radiological effluent sampling program at Indian Point.
22 They do in Vermont sample milk from dairy cows near 23 Brattleboro.
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122 1 contamination by Indian Point, nor does New York state's 2 Department of Health or its environmental agency and 3 neither does Connecticut's Department of Health and 4 environmental agencies. I'm here today specifically to 5 tell you that we have so far collected some 60 samples of 6 milk from the all kinds of mothers and we have received 7 to date 30 results from our independent laboratory, which 8 is charging us a commercial, competitive rate.
9 I have with me a statement, which I have left 10 at the front desk to be inserted in the record, but I'd 11 like to share a couple of highlights from our first 12 results with you today. I'll begin with Cindy-Lou. We 13 have guaranteed absolute confidentiality to all of the 14 participants in the project who share their milk unless 15 they choose to go public and they possibly may in the 16 future when we have a large event and invite them all to 17 come and speak. These are preliminary results that we 18 have received and so the only donor so far who has waived 19 confidentiality is my friend Cindy-Lou the goat. She has 20 given seven samples that we have received results for so 21 far and one of those results, in particular, has 22 potentially grave significance for all of us and that is 23 her milk has tested for levels of Strontium-90, 3.4, and 24 Strontium-89, 3.7. Strontium-90 is a potent carcinogen.
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123 1 disappear and go away. Even though you can't see it or 2 smell it'or hear it or taste it. Also, the same for 3 Strontium-89. Both are routinely released. Strontium-90 4 has a half-life of 28 years. It's around for a long 5 time. Strontium-89 decays within 50 days. The 6 significance of that is that if you have a sample that 7 has both radioisotopes, as Cindy-Lou's milk did, then it 8 means that there's a very good probability that the 9 source of the radiation was a recent fission event 10 because otherwise the Strontium-89 would have decayed to 11 a point beyond detectability.
12 MR. RAKOVAN: Ms. Burton --
13 MS. BURTON: Yes.
14 MR. RAKOVAN: If you could summarize. We asked 15 everyone to stick to about three minutes.
16 MS. BURTON: I'm very sorry. To move to the 17 mothers, we have one mother of 11 who gave us samples who 18 tested positively for both Strontium-90 and Strontium-89.
19 She lives about 10 miles from Indian Point and that is 20 extremely troubling. All our goat and dairy cow samples 21 tested positively for Strontium-90. Of the 11 mothers, 22 human mothers, who gave us samples, only two tested clear 23 for Strontium-90. There was no detectable level. The 24 others, nine mothers living within 50 miles and most very 25 close to Indian Point are in the process or recently were NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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124 1 feeding their babies breast milk that is radioactive.
2 With these comments, I am asking the NRC to suspend its 3 re-licensing proceedings. To do a thorough investigation 4 of this very, very fundamentally serious issue and new 5 information. To the extent that you are able to verify 6 the preliminary numbers I'm giving you today, I believe 7 it calls for cessation of the operations of this 8 facility. Thank you very much.
9 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay, I'd like to introduce Bo 10 Pham. Bo, you've got three minutes to close the meeting.
11 MR. PHAM: Thank you everyone. My name is Bo 12 Pham. I am a branch chief at the NRC. My group is 13 actually the group that is primarily going to be 14 responding to the comments that you provided today. It's 15 actually amazing that we got through all the speakers 16 that we did today. While the opinions varied and 17 perspectives varied regarding the licensing of Indian 18 Point, I just want everyone to know that the NRC does 19 consider all that has been provided today. In some 20 cases, we have in the past, unfortunately, we have to 21 respectfully disagree with what has been provided. But 22 nonetheless, we do give it full consideration.
23 As Lance and Drew indicated earlier, this is 24 not the only opportunity to provide comments and if I 25 could plug for technology a little bit. The e-mail NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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125 1 address is probably the most expedient way to get your 2 comments to us if you do have follow-up comments beyond 3 this meeting. With that, I would like to thank everyone 4 for coming tonight and close out the meeting. The staff 5 will be available for the next half hour, I believe, 6 after the meeting to answer any questions you might have.
7 ( Whereupon, at 4:47 p.m., the public meeting was closed )
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