WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D, NY-17), Thursday, said that a report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General reveals that NRC failed to properly analyze the safety impact of the placement of a natural gas pipeline near the Indian Point Energy Center as part of the process for the pipeline’s approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“The IG findings show outrageous failings by an agency charged with the important responsibility of protecting the health and safety of our communities,” Lowey said. “This report indicates repeated failings to use proper analysis by the same commission that oversees the decommissioning of Indian Point. NRC must immediately explain to our communities the risks they face as a result of the agency’s faulty processes and take steps to protect the public from any dangers that have resulted from the pipeline’s approval and installation.”
The IG report indicated that FERC relied upon NRC to assess the impacts of the pipeline that now traverses Indian Point property as part of the Algonquin Incremental Market Project.
Lowey has written to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki calling for an immediate briefing in the wake of the IG report’s release. She said the report is all the more alarming at a time when the NRC must ensure the safety of local residents as Indian Point’s nuclear plants are decommissioned.
“The NRC must do its job to protect the public first and foremost,” Lowey said. “As we work to mitigate the impact of the decommission of Indian Point on our communities, we simply must have reliable partners to ensure that we don’t face increased environmental and public safety concerns.”
Westchester County Executive George Latimer, meanwhile, called the NRC’s action “a gross failing on the part of the agency that is charged with keeping this community and the families that live here safe.” He said it is “particularly appalling when coupled with the fact that this is the same agency charged with overseeing the decommissioning of Indian Point – a process that is occurring right now.”
Lattimer said he wants the NRC to come to Westchester to tell its residents
“that they have failed them, and to explain what steps they are taking to protect the public from the pipeline that now crosses the Indian Point property as part of the Algonquin Incremental Market Project.”
