Lopez says finding a suitable substitute energy source for
Indian Point, scheduled to shut down within five years,
won’t be easy
ALBANY – Peter Lopez, the former assemblyman, assumes his new job today as regional administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency overseeing New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
One controversial environmental issue in the Mid-Hudson Valley is the CPV power plant being completed in the Town of Wawayanda. The facility plans to generate electricity with fracked gas from Pennsylvania.
Lopez said he will have conversations with EPA Administrator Pruitt and regional staff to discuss the EPA’s position on power plants like the Orange County facility.
“Natural gas has been touted as a cleaner fuel than oil, safer and more reliable than nuclear, we know that nuclear is in question now and the economic viability of nuclear is becoming more challenging because of the price of natural gas,” he said. “Nuclear is not as economic viable; we are actually subsidizing it through the ratepayer base right now.”
As for the closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, Lopez said
the issue is what needs to be done to provide a substitute energy source
to maintain the grid so that energy is available to people when they need
it.
Lopez said while the governor wants to shift to renewable energy sources, that is not going to happen overnight.
