A coalition of energy policy groups is pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to move toward restarting the shuttered Indian Point nuclear plant in Westchester County, launching a mobile billboard campaign timed to this year’s Climate Week events in New York City.
The billboard, mounted on a truck, features an image of Hochul alongside the message: “open up Indian Point, or the heat goes out and the light goes out.”
Indian Point, located in Buchanan, about 40 miles from Midtown Manhattan, was closed in 2021 under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo after sustained opposition from anti-nuclear activists and elected officials concerned about the risks of housing a nuclear facility so close to the city. Before its closure, the plant supplied roughly two gigawatts of power.
Hochul, who was lieutenant governor when the plant shut down, has acknowledged the closure created problems for the state’s power supply. Speaking on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” last week, she said: “We lost 25% of New York City’s power when Indian Point shut down. That’s something that was unforeseen. Nobody had a plan B. What are you supposed to do for power the next day?”
She has also called Cuomo’s decision to shutter the plant a “mistake,” though she has not proposed reopening it. Instead, Hochul is pursuing a separate initiative to build new nuclear reactors in New York as residents face rising utility bills.
That distinction is drawing criticism from the groups behind the billboard campaign. Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, argued the governor is not pursuing the fastest path to more nuclear power.
“If Governor Hochul was sincere about jump-starting nuclear power to cut electricity prices, she would be pressing the Trump administration to expedite the recommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, where the extensive infrastructure needed is already in place,” Milloy said. “But that is not what’s happening. She is only sincere about her insincerity.”
The campaign is funded by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, the American Energy Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Heartland Institute and Truth in Energy and Climate.
The push has become a political flashpoint in the Hudson Valley, where Republican Rep. Mike Lawler has made restarting Indian Point a centerpiece of his reelection campaign against Democratic challenger Cait Conley. Lawler appeared earlier this year with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright outside the plant and has continued to press for its return, citing demand from data center developers seeking dependable power sources.
Separately, the U.S. Army announced that Fort Drum in New York will receive a small nuclear energy generator as part of a broader Pentagon program to install small reactors at military installations across the country.
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