3.3 Million
July 19, 2013
Riverkeeper Team
That’s how many fish and other Hudson River organisms are killed every day on average at the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Every day. And it’s been happening for decades.
In fact, today the number likely is much higher, since the river is filled with spawning fish, and the plant will suck 2.5 billion gallons of water, along with all the life in it, through its cooling water intakes today. That’s more water than the entire city of New York City consumes in a day!
Entergy, the owner of Indian Point, is profiting by wasting water and killing fish—and it’s wrong. It’s no different than an oil company sticking a pipe in the water to discharge its pollution, day after day, year after year.
Why today? Because this week, Riverkeeper staff attorneys Mark Lucas and Abigail Jones step back into the ring against Entergy’s high-priced army of lawyers, as our David and Goliath battle continues in Albany over the plant’s water permit. The state has denied Entergy’s permit to stop the slaughter, and Riverkeeper is supporting the state to repel Entergy’s appeal.
Without this permit, the law says Indian Point must shut down. Period.
Indian Point is one of the most profitable nuclear power plants in the world—maybe the most profitable. But Entergy refuses to invest its profits in protecting the river. It refuses to invest in compliance with fire safety regulations that could prevent a Fukushima Daiichi-like catastrophe here. It refuses to invest in securing the 1,500 tons of radioactive nuclear waste it stores on the banks of the Hudson River. It refuses to invest in beefed up security measures to better protect the dangerous spent fuel pools and reactors. The list goes on.
Instead, it invests in lawyers, bogus engineering reports and every conceivable legal maneuver to buy another day of profits. Entergy has four major law firms and over a dozen lawyers working against three Riverkeeper attorneys. It has dragged out this one hearing since October 2011, and together with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has succeeded in dragging out the federal relicensing hearing for years. That’s Entergy’s choice: Profits over the environment, its neighbors and all else.
Our choice is to fight. We’re in it for the river, and we’re in it for you. We’re the watchdog who has brought so many of the dangers of Indian Point to light. We’re your representative, making sure your voice is heard.
Paul Gallay
President & Hudson Riverkeeper
Related campaigns
Beyond Indian Point
Monitoring the shutdown of a nuclear power plant on the banks of the Hudson that killed billions of fish each year
Renewable energy transition
Working toward a sustainable future while protecting the Hudson River and its communities
Saving Hudson River fish
Protecting iconic species vital to our local ecosystems