Dear Governor Hochul,
On behalf of the 138 undersigned organizations and our members and supporters, we urge you to prevent Holtec International, the firm responsible for decommissioning the Indian Point nuclear power plant, from discharging approximately one million gallons of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River.
While Holtec has shifted their timeline back and forth on discharging this wastewater, the company currently intends to discharge in the summer months during the heart of the recreation season when thousands of New Yorkers are swimming, fishing, paddling and boating in the Hudson. Furthermore, we are deeply concerned about the impacts on the health and safety of local residents, the River’s ecosystem, and local economies. The Hudson Valley region is densely populated and also serves as a recreational area for millions from New York City and across the state. We call on you to use your authority as governor to ensure the necessary state and federal agencies take action to halt the dumping of toxic waste into our waterways including the Hudson River.
The Indian Point nuclear power plant was rightfully shuttered in 2021, yet the spent fuel pool wastewater remaining on the site contains radioactive contaminants, including tritium. Exposure to tritium is linked to cancer, miscarriages, genetic defects and other adverse health effects. There is no safe dose of radiation and its harmful impacts are cumulative. Women, children and expectant mothers are at far greater risk from these exposures. Federal standards on radioactive releases to the environment are based on a healthy adult male and have not been updated to protect the most vulnerable. Simply put, with all that we know now, it would be reckless and irresponsible to continue to dump toxic and radioactive substances into the Hudson River.
The Hudson River is among New York’s most important economic and recreational resources and is an ecosystem for a wide array of fish and marine life. Noxious industries have threatened the River before. We commend your action to oppose and ultimately halt the Danskammer fracked gas plant from being expanded on the banks of the Hudson River. Please continue your legacy of protecting the Hudson River from polluters by calling on Holtec to store its toxic radioactive waste on site and work with regulatory agencies and environmental organizations on a better, safer, permanent disposal method that protects New Yorkers and our water sources.
A growing number of municipalities, including Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess and Ulster counties, have adopted resolutions or written letters opposing Holtec’s plan to dump radioactive waste into the
Hudson River. Senator Peter Harckham and Assembly Member Dana Levenberg have also introduced legislation that would prohibit discharges of radioactive contaminants into New York waterways, and we believe that Holtec’s desire to accelerate its discharge schedule to May may have been an attempt to get around the new restrictions that could be imposed. We urge your office to support this legislation so that Holtec’s reckless proposal does not proceed.
New York’s magnificent Hudson River must not serve as a dumping ground for nuclear industry polluters while we work to continue the restoration of this significant tidal estuary. The economic and environmental damage of dumping radioactive waste into our precious water sources would be profound and unnecessary, only serving the interests of Holtec and its shareholders. We urge you to put the health and safety of New Yorkers first by stopping Holtec’s dangerous plan and ensuring a precedent is set here in New York that polluters cannot dump radioactive substances into our state’s waterways.
Sincerely,
Food & Water Watch, Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director Grassroots Environmental Education, Ellen Weininger, Educational Outreach Director Hudson Riverkeeper, Tracy Brown, President and Hudson Riverkeeper Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Action Director Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC), Marilyn Elie Promoting Health and Sustainable Energy (PHASE), Michel Lee Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE), Suzannah Glidden United For Clean Energy, Tina Volz-Bongar Westchester for Change, Susan Van Dolsen
All Our Energy
George Povall
Alliance for a Green Economy
Avni Pravin
Arbor Hill Environmental Justice
Aaron Mair
Association for Energy Affordability
Betta Broad
Beacon Climate Action Now (BCAN)
Veekas Ashoka
Beacon Sloop Club
Robert May
Beyond Extreme Energy
Ted Glick
Beyond Nuclear
Kevin Kamps
Bronx Council for Environmental Quality
Karen Argenti
Bronx River Alliance
Elena Conte
Cape Downwinders
Diane Turco
Caretaker Society
Paul Tobin
Catskill Mountainkeeper
Ramsay Adams, Executive Director
Citizen Action of New York
Bob Cohen, Policy and Research Director
Citizens Awareness Network
Deb Katz
Citizens United to Protect Our Neighborhoods (CUPON) R. Michael Miller
Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena – Coeymans Barbara Heinzen
Climate Reality Project – Finger Lakes Chapter
Thomas Hirasuna
Climate Reality Project – Long Island Chapter
Francesca Rheannon
Climate Reality Project NY Chapters Coalition
Tim Guinee
Climate Reality Project, Hudson Valley & Catskills Chapter Tim Guinee, Tom Polton, Eve Morgenstern, Linda Rachele Burke
ClimateMama
Harriet Shugarman
Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline
Judith Canepa
Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes
Michael Keegan
Communities for Local Power
Jess Mullen
Community Advocates for a Sustainable Environment Ruth Foster
Concerned Families of Westchester (CFOW)
Frank Brodhead
Don’t Waste Michigan
Alice Hirt
Dyslexia Works LLC
Suzanne Buchauer
Eco-Logic, WBAI-FM
Ken Gale
Earthkeeper Health Resources
Amy Rosmarin
Environmental Justice Initiative, New York Environmental Law and Justice Project Annie Wilson
EscapeMaker Inc.
Caylin Sanders
Frack Action
Renee Vogelsang
FrackBustersNY
Mary Finneran
Friends of the Mahicantuck
Sarah Bachinger
Green Amendments For The Generations
Maya van Rossum
Green Education and Legal Fund
Mark Dunlea
Green Ossining
Suzie Ross
Green Phoenix Permaculture Henry Varnum Poor Foundation
Clare Sheridan
Indivisible New Rochelle
Margaret Bradbury
Indivisible Scarsdale
Deborah Porder
Indivisible Westchester
Shannon Powell
KingstonCitizens.org
Rebecca Martin
Kingston Land Trust
Shaniqua Bowden
Larchmont/Mamaroneck Indivisible
Jenny Geer
Lights out Norlite
Dave Publow, Dave Walker and Diana Abadie
Long Island Progressive Coalition
Monique Fitzgerald
Lower Hudson Valley DSA
Chase Zimmerman
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World
June Tano and Rachel Clark
Media Alliance/The Sanctuary for Independent Media KP Holler, Executive Director
Nassau Hiking & Outdoor Club
Guy Jacob
New City Neighborhood Association Inc
Z. Halo
New Paltz Climate Action Coalition
Jess Mullen
New Paltz Climate Smart
Janelle Peotter
NYC Friends of Clearwater
Edith Kantrowitz
NYC Safe Energy Campaign
Ken Gale
New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (NYCAN) Robert Croonquist
New York Climate Action Group
Judith Canepa
New York Climate Advocacy Project
Ruth Foster
New York Communities for Change
Alice Hu
New York Mothers Out Front
Donna O’Malley
New Yorkers for Clean Power
Betta Broad
Newburgh Clean Water Project
Jennifer Rawlison and Tamsin Hollo
Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS)
David Kraft
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Timothy Judson
Nuyagi Keetoowah Societies Grand Council
George Strayhorn
Nuyagi Keetoowah Society, Inc.
Ray Evans Harrell
NY Water Action
Ann Finneran
NY/NJ Baykeeper
Greg Remaud, Baykeeper & CEO
NYCD16 Indivisible
Iris Hiskey Arno
New York Public Interest Research Group
Anne Rabe
Oceans 8 Films
Jon Bowermaster
Peekskill Progressives
Courtney Williams
People’s Climate Movement – NY
Laurel Tumarkin
People for a Healthy Environment
Doug Couchon
Physicians for Social Responsibility – New York
Dr. Kathleen Nolan, President
Piermont Pier Alliance
Marthe Schulwolf
Piermont Marsh Alliance
Marthe Schulwolf
Piermont Rowing Club
Pamela Hudson
Preserve Giles County
Donna Pitt
Property Rights and Pipeline Center
Rebekah Sale
Protect Our Commonwealth
Freeda Cathcart
Protecting Our Waters
Iris Marie Bloom
Quassaick Creek Watershed Alliance
John Gebhards
Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation
Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation
Chief Dwaine Perry and Stephen (Owl) D. Smith, Carla Alexander
Rensselaer Environmental Coalition
Robert Welton, Board of Directors
Resist Spectra
Marie Inserra
Responsible Decarbonization Alliance / Keep It Wild Barbara Jarmoska
ROAR (Religious Organizations Along the River)
M. Doretta Cornell
Rockland Coalition to End the New Jim Crow
Jacquelyn Drechsler
Rockland County Democratic Committee
Schenley Vital
Rogers’ Community, Maryknoll Sisters Center
Sister Theresa Kastner, MM
Rondout Creek Watershed Alliance
Laura Finestone
Sacred River Healing
Alan Levin
Safe Energy Rights Group
Nancy Vann
SaveOurBayMa.com
Henrietta Cosentino
Sane Energy Project
Kim Fraczek
Save West Hook Mountain
Michael Baum
Scenic Hudson
Andy Bicking, Director of Government Relations and Public Policy
Seneca Lake Guardian
Yvone Taylor
Shaleshock CNY
Sharon Osika-Michales
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Kate Bartholomew, Chair
Sisters of Charity of New York
Carol De Angelo, SC, Director of Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation
SPACE – Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment, Inc. George Potanovic Jr.
Stockbridge Munsee band of Mohicans Culture Committee Shawn Stevens, Chairperson
Strawtown Studio
Laurie Seeman
Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development
Linda Reik
Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition Karen Hadden
The Caretaker Society The Two Row Wampum Unity Riders Pipe
Carriers Cercle
Three Mile Productions, LLC
Heidi Hutner
TownOfUlsterCitizens.org
Laura Hartmann
Transition Town Media
Sari Steuber
Turtle Clan of The Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation Chief Vincent Mann and Paul Tobin
Turtle Island Indigenous People of the Northeast Cultural Foundation Inc Non-Profit Carla Alexander
Ulster Activists (U-Act)
Amy Kletter
United for Action
Ling Tsou
Upper Nyack Green Committee
Beverley Colgan and Harry Vetter
Waterkeeper Alliance
Daniel Estrin, General Counsel and Advocacy Director
Waterspirit
Rachel Davis
cc:
Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado Senator Pete Harckham Assemblymember Dana Levenberg Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins Assemblymember Carl E. Heastie Assemblymember Deborah Glick
US Senator Chuck Schumer US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Congressman Pat Ryan Congressman Marc Molinaro Congressman Jamaal Bowman Congressman Michael Lawler Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Congressman Jerry Nadler
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Nada Khader
West Branch Conservation Association
Terri Thal
Westchester Alliance for Sustainable Solutions (WASS) Vanessa Agudelo
Westchester SAFE
Laurie Evans
Western New York Chapter of the Climate Reality Project Lynn Saxton, Co-Chair
Youth Arts New York
Linda Chapman
