From Environmental Progress comes a shocker: according to an indictment filed by the US Attorney in Manhattan last September 22, Todd Howe, a top aide to New York governor Andrew Cuomo, received bribes from Competitive Power Ventures (CPV), a natural gas company, aimed at gaining a rapid closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. CPV, which stands to reap a windfall from its planned CVP Valley Energy Center if Indian Point closes, has also donated heavily to Cuomo’s campaign.
Yesterday, the New York TImes cited anonymous sources saying that Indian Point owner Entergy, under heavy pressure from Cuomo, had agreed to shut down the plant.
The indictment suggests that Competitive Power Ventures and the Cuomo administration both recognized that if Indian Point were taken off line, it would be replaced by natural gas, not imported hydro and wind
Replacing Indian Point with natural gas would increase CO2 emissions from New York’s power sector by a whopping 30%, just as Putin’s Poodle is poised to pounce on President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
Meanwhile, according to the Times,
ratepayers in New York City could be burdened with higher energy prices for years.