SOURCE:
BY: MARIE J. FRENCH June, 23, 2025
Some environmental groups are slamming New York’s full-throated embrace of new nuclear.
ALBANY, New York — Labor unions and big manufacturers support Gov. Kathy Hochul’s full-speed-ahead push for new nuclear energy, but environmental advocates are wary.
Hochul announced Monday that the New York Power Authority would build at least one new plant to add 1 gigawatt of new nuclear energy to the state's power grid. The Democratic governor framed the investment in a new reactor as necessary to avoid power shortfalls and supply reliable energy to businesses arriving in upstate New York.
“We cannot risk jeopardizing the pro-business climate that I’ve worked so hard to create for the last few years,” Hochul said during the announcement at the Niagara hydropower project. “That demand is right now and that opportunity is right now, but if we don’t increase our capacity over the next decade, we’ll see rolling blackouts and other disruptions.”
New York’s independent grid operator has raised concerns about narrowing reliability margins — the cushion of generation above what’s needed to supply the highest demand days — although it does not currently project a statewide shortfall in the timeframe Hochul alluded to.
Nearer term reliability concerns in New York City will keep older gas plants online to meet demand there until an under-construction transmission line carrying Canadian hydropower is completed.
The state’s climate law, passed in 2019, calls for New York to get 70 percent of electricity from renewables by 2030. Hochul’s administration has acknowledged that the target will not be met on time and it has started to turn the focus to the 2040 “zero emissions” electricity target.
Nuclear doesn’t qualify as renewable under New York’s climate law, but the state’s three existing plants that provide roughly a quarter of its energy already receive financial support for their “zero emissions” energy.
For environmental advocates who generally oppose nuclear due to the impacts from waste and safety concerns, Hochul’s announcement struck a nerve.
“I’m sitting here pulling the knife out of my back,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “What happened to the partnership we had? What happened to the commitment she had to offshore wind?”
Some Democratic lawmakers have also expressed skepticism about Hochul’s embrace of nuclear.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, questioned the timeline for building a plant, whether nuclear is a cost-effective use of funding and how the authority would dispose of radioactive waste.
“I will be keeping a close eye on the process that NYPA is undertaking to ensure that it is thorough, transparent, and unbiased, and responsive to New Yorkers’ input,” she said in a statement.
Business groups that have been raising the alarm about the implementation of the state climate law cheered Hochul’s embrace of nuclear energy. Labor unions, whose members would benefit from the construction and operation of new plants, also heralded the governor’s leadership.
“I love jobs in New York — and all of labor is behind you on that,” said Jim Slevin, president of the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, during the governor’s announcement.
Unanswered questions about the governor’s plan remain — such as where the plant or plants will be located.
Hochul emphasized it would only be in communities that welcome the investment — highlighting the potential for new jobs.
Republican lawmakers supportive of new nuclear rushed to put their communities in the running.
State Sen. George Borrello called on Hochul to consider the old Dunkirk coal plant on the shore of Lake Erie as a possible location.
“This would bring back critical tax revenue, generate well-paying jobs, and deliver the long-overdue economic recovery that Dunkirk desperately needs,” he said in a statement.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, whose district includes two nuclear plants in Oswego County, also pitched the idea of building another reactor there.
How the power authority, which balked at financing large amounts of renewables, will fund this new project is still unclear. Justin Driscoll, the authority’s president and CEO, said it would soon solicit host communities, potential partners and investors, as well as technology vendors.
Hochul said building the new plant would shield New York ratepayers from fluctuating fossil fuel prices.
“We’ll make sure this plant keeps the lights on without making it too expensive,” she said.
Nuclear is enjoying a newfound popularity among Democratic and Republican governors. Connecticut’s Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont backed new nuclear in his State of the State at the beginning of the year, for example.
But Hochul’s leveraging of the nation’s largest state-owned public power organization has instantly vaulted her to the front of the U.S. nuclear power race.
“I’m the first Democratic governor in a generation to say to nuclear: ‘I’m embracing this, my state will embrace this,’” Hochul said. “I want to show this nation that blue states like New York can dream big and build big, because we believe in the philosophy of abundance.”
