PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy) – Citizen Action – Frack Action
Community Advocates for a Sustainable Environment – Upper Hudson Peace Action
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter – NY Renews – Food and Water Watch – Green Party
Green Education and Legal Fund –NYPIRG – NIRS – AGREE
Hochul’s Nuclear Power Proposals Bad for Affordability, the Climate, and the Environment
On June 30, eight events were held across New York State to announce opposition to Governor Hochul’s ill-advised plan to drastically expand expensive, dangerous nuclear power production throughout the state. A ninth event will be held on June 31st in the North Country.
“Nuclear power is not a climate solution and would be terrible for New York’s utility ratepayers. The recent nuclear power policy paper released on June 11 by Governor Hochul acknowledged that new nuclear power plants are not commercially viable (p. 17, D-1) and would require New Yorkers to pay above-market rates for their electricity. It also recognized that massive cost overruns were endemic to nuclear power plant construction and that the private sector would be unwilling to provide financing unless the state was will to assume liability for cost overruns (p. D-9),” stated Mark Dunlea of PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy), the 350.org affiliate in the Capital District.
“In the crossroads of an affordability crisis and a climate crisis, Governor Hochul’s reckless pursuit of new nuclear risks raising utility bills for New Yorkers who are already struggling to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Instead of dumping money into radioactive pipedreams, Governor Hochul should reverse course and adequately fund clean, affordable, renewable energy for all New Yorkers to lower our bills and combat the worsening climate crisis,” said Ethan Gormley, Legislative Coordinator, Citizen Action of New York.
Nuclear power is the most expensive form of energy. The most recent plant in the United States took 17 years to build at a cost of $36.8 billion! Nuclear energy is toxic and dangerous, generating massive quantities of hazardous waste and radioactive air pollution. Meanwhile, the cost of renewable energy continues to decline.
“Our Governor’s decision to put massive state resources behind nuclear flies in the face of her affordability claims. The nuclear industry has a 50-year track record of cost and time overruns, which have burned ratepayers across the country, not to mention irreversible harm to native communities and huge water use. We call on Governor Hochul to instead put the power of the state behind real affordability solutions, including fully funding programs for low- and moderate-income communities and building out solar at scale,” said Isaac Silberman-Gorn of Frack Action.
The groups pointed out that new nuclear power plants are not carbon free, as carbon is released from the cement used in construction as well as from the mining, processing, and transportation of the uranium fuel. It will likely take a decade or more to build new reactors, whereas action to mitigate climate action is needed now. The need to safely store the radioactive waste from nuclear power plants for tens of thousands of years remains an unsolved problem. Communities located closer to nuclear power plants have higher rates of cancer mortality according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Hochul’s push to build nuclear power while gutting the state’s climate law (CLCPA) runs contrary to global trends as detailed in the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Investment 2026 report. Global investment in renewable energy has been outpacing fossil fuels – and nuclear – since 2016. Global investment in clean energy reached $2.155 trillion in 2025, more than double the $1.008 trillion flowing into fossil fuels. Investment in nuclear power was $70 billion.
The Governor wants to build five nuclear plants at a likely cost of $100 billion – or more. In comparison, this year’s state budget allocated $200 million to the NY-Sun initiative as part of its enacted budget to expand rooftop and community solar projects. The Governor’s nuclear plans will require public subsidies of up to $23.9 billion to build and operate new nuclear plants. This is on top of the $40 billion we’re already paying in our bills to keep open four existing nuclear reactors.
Earlier this year, more than 200 national, state, local groups and representatives from 6 Indigenous Nations sent letters to Hochul demanding that she drop her stated plans to build 5 gigawatts of new nuclear power in the state.
In the letters, groups point out that the cost of building new nuclear reactors in New York is in direct opposition to the Governor’s goal of making energy more affordable – something she continues to claim is a priority and has been the justification for her recent efforts to skirt the state’s existing climate law. Meanwhile, 2 gigawatts of new capacity recently built in Georgia more than doubled in cost to $37 billion, resulting in a 23.6% increase in electricity rates for residents.
“Capitalism is literally killing us: 1300 people died in Europe last week due to excessive heat caused by climate-change, with scientists predicting that by 2045 the increase in global temperatures will cause mass extinctions and possible collapse of human civilization. We need a rapid transition to a lower-energy, eco-socialist, 100% renewable future with massive redistribution of resources, with a public buildout of renewables and reduction of energy consumption. Instead, Gov. Hochul is instead proposing to build 5 nuclear plants – notoriously dirty and not at all carbon-neutral – at the cost of $100 billion to taxpayers to expand our energy and resource consumption to feed data centers demanded by the same capitalists who helped destroy the planet. The Green Party has opposed nuclear power from its inception just as we oppose this ill-considered plan” said Green Party co-chair Peter LaVenia.
In January, Hochul’s NY Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a $33 billion, 20-year extension of subsidies for the four dangerously old upstate nuclear reactors at Lake Ontario, running through 2049. This action represents the largest single use of NY ratepayer dollars compared to any other PSC-approved energy program in history.
“We need nuclear power like we need nuclear war,” said Tom Ellis of Albany, who intervened in NYS PSC adjudicatory hearings from 1980-1986 opposing Niagara Mohawk’s nuclear-driven annual electricity rate increase requests. Ellis, speaking on behalf of Upper Hudson Peace Action, stated that the link between nuclear stations and war received increased notice since 2023 when Russia invaded Ukraine; fighting occurred and still does near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station.
The NYS Ratepayer Protection Nuclear Moratorium Act (S9962A / A11433A) was introduced this session for a two-and-a-half-year pause on using state funds, subsidies, and tax credits for new, reopened, or rebuilt nuclear power facilities. It would allow an independent Nuclear Assessment Task Force to evaluate the economic, health, and environmental impacts of nuclear power before committing public funds.