- Michael Leonardi
Indian Point is still open because of the sheer madness of a system propped up by the machinations of an Industry that finances the political bureaucracy and keeps organized labor as a parasitic appendage that cares about nothing more than paychecks. It is still open because the most powerful organizations that say they want it shut down are compromised and their leadership and members unwilling to come out of their elitist comfort zones to really do what it takes to inform and galvanize the masses into shutting down New York City with a mock evacuation that would take say a week.
It is still open because of the taxpayer subsidies to Entergy and the fact that too many stupid people have been drinking the radiaoactive Kool Aid that convinces them that Nuclear Energy is "Safe. Secure. Vital." It is still open because too many well meaning people in a position to get it Shut down are too fucked up and embroiled in their own personal soap operas to be able to effectively engage with reality.
- Gloria Albasi
Due to a lack of serious education on energy issues in this country, the general population is perhaps ill-equipped to take a step back and look at the Big Energy Picture? While nuclear power plants were once thought to be the future of energy, we have since learned the risks far, far outweigh the advantages. If more people understood the nuts and bolts of why the risks are so great, more citizen advocacy might have already led to Indian Point's 'closure'. Instead, a general malaise or ignorance in this area has allowed it to stay open.
Dr. Helen Caldicott might suggest that Indian Point is still open because a nuclear reactor meltdown has not yet occurred in the USA. She expressed at Columbia University recently that some international nuclear power experts fear that only when an American reactor experiences a meltdown, will the US seriously implement a countrywide plan of phasing out nuclear reactors. And that the world might then follow suit. A frightening thought.
- Andrea Kalkstein Lieberman
Indian Point is still open because the feds want it that way. any more questions?
Indian Point is still open because the federal gov't has a need to nuke new yorkers?
Indian Point is still open because Entergy, the feds, their $$$ billions and minions have the POWER.
- MaryEllen Marucci
Because the Attorney General will not ask the hard question. Proof of how the ISO manipulates what type of power gets bought.
After Fukushima, I contacted the Coalition Against Nukes facebook community about Millstone suggesting more focus on Indian Point. Millstone would be much harder to shut down since its surplus power is used by the military bases, nuclear sub base, Electric Boat and other military contractors. Also many of the residents are used to a military focus to their economy.
Before the first CAN rally in NY, I called the NY AG office, as my conscious was bothering me. I could not remember if Indian Point was built at the same time as Haddam Neck (aka Connecticut Yankee) where they falsified earthquake analysis because they did not know at that time how the special metals used in the spent fuel racks would behave. The people doing the analysis substituted the behavior of what they assumed was a comparable metal. Haddam Neck was closed early because the corporation (Northeast Utilities) did not want this public, and to go for an extension of life for that plant would have required at that time a full public hearing.
So thinking that Indian Point would be one of 16 or more plants built around the same time as Haddam Neck, I called and spoke to a woman within AG immediate office. I told her what I wrote above, and asked if she knew when the seismic studies were done. She said there were no seismic studies! I said then "What are you waiting for, shut it down now! Get an injunction and shut it down!" There was silence at the other end and and then I said, "Are you worried about where the power is going to come from?" She agreed that was their concern.
I then suggested that the AG go after the Power Pool (ISO) and get their records to see how they manipulate the purchases to prove that IP is a necessary part of the mix. She thought that would be a good idea. I do not know what NY AG is doing, but I do not think he has gone after ISO. It can be the state is hesitating because certain industries suck the grid when usage is low and they do not want to be cut off from their free or cheap power. I suspect it is both the military and nuclear industry that is the end user of this surplus. Along with other industrialists tied to the same industrial, military, sickness industry.
- Barbara Warren
Indian Point is still open because this country is in denial about the seriousness of the Fukushima catastrophe. The only regulatory body allowed to deal with safety issues in this country, the NRC, is in denial about the significance of the danger for the US. The NRC was largely captured by the nuclear industry and is functioning as if it was a PR firm, doing damage control not by increasing safety, but by controlling the media messages.
Protecting Entergy and other industry participants has clearly become more important than the safety of twenty million people. Indian Point will not be closed until people rise up in their outrage and demand more accountability from their elected leaders and a REAL SAFETY AGENCY that can see danger and act accordingly.
- Well, as for myself, I think that as long as the Buchanan/Peekskill hosting community itself kowtows to Entergy by naming its PR director grand marshal of their St. Patrick's Day parade, allowing Entergy to lavish local arts and medical institutions with millions of dollars in annual donations, it will be impossible to pry neighborhood residents away from its dirty cash addiction.
If you'd like to contribute something constructive to this conversation, please comment below, thank you.
