An appeals court in New York has ruled that license extensions for the Indian Point nuclear power plant units 2 and 3 could be granted without the stipulation that the two reactors comply with a coastal management partnership the state made with the federal government in 1982.
The plant's owner, New Orleans-based Entergy Nuclear Operation Inc. which applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 20-year license renewals in 2007, had asked the New York Department of State to rule on whether the plants on the Hudson River near Peekskill, N.Y., required a Coastal Zone Management Program review. The agency said yes and that determination was upheld in 2013 by the Albany County Supreme Court. But the Appellate Division Third Department in Albany overturned that ruling Thursday, saying the plants, licensed in 1973 and 1975, were “grandfathered” in.
The state's agreement with the Coastal Zone Management Program included exemptions for projects in operation before the 1976 State Environmental Quality Review Act came into effect. The Courthouse News noted the plants were assessed through the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, rather than the state review, which is known as SEQRA.
Exemptions were also allowed for projects that had environmental reviews completed before 1982, the Courthouse News said.
New York State public information officer Edison Alban said the agency planned to appeal last week's decision.
The Coastal Zone Management Program is overseen by the Department of Commerce's the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The ruling, if it stands, gives New York State a diminished role in the process. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo “has long been an opponent of Indian Point and has worked to prevent the federal re licensing of the facility,” the state said in a press release.
Unit 1 at Indian Point was closed in 1974 and is expected to be fully decommissioned by 2026. The remaining two reactors, representing 2,000 megawatts of power, operate on a 240-acre property on the Hudson River, 35 miles north of New York City.
"There is no dispute that Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3, which lie on the banks of the Hudson River, have an impact upon a coastal area that is subject to the Coastal Management Program,” wrote Justice Christine Clark in her ruling. However, "the projects at issue here are exempt from review under the CMP because final environmental impact statements were filed for both prior to 1982," she wrote.