The battle for this tossup New York House seat is going nuclear.
Republican Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler is pitching a plan to reopen the Indian Point power plant in a bid to reverse New Yorkers’ skyrocketing energy bills.
“The fact is, there’s no better-positioned site for energy generation in the Hudson Valley than Indian Point. The transmission lines are already built and sitting there idle,” Lawler told The Post in a recent interview.
“That site supplied a quarter of this region’s power before Albany shut it down, and electricity costs have jumped 58 percent since then,” he said.
“New York should be leading on next-generation nuclear, and it should start right here at Indian Point.”
The two-term congressman’s campaign slammed his Democratic rival, Cait Conley, for vehemently opposing reopening Indian Point, which closed in 2021 under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“Cait Conley told a debate audience that Indian Point is ‘probably why I glow at night,’ and told a Sierra Club forum that reopening it is ‘dumb,’” said Lawler campaign spokesman Ciro Riccardi.
“Hudson Valley families staring down electric bills that are up 58 percent aren’t laughing.”
The mothballed plant, which provided 25%of New York City’s electricity with zero-emissions nuclear energy, is located along the Hudson River in the village of Buchanan in northern Westchester, part of the swing 17th House District.
It’s closure coincided with Cuomo and Democrats in the state legislature approving a controversial climate change law that set the state on a swift embrace of renewable energy.
The law was scaled back by this year by Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who feared the green energy mandates would trigger even higher costs as she seeks re-election in November.
The Democrat, who was lieutenant governor when Indian Point closed, sought to distance herself from Cuomo’s decision, saying it was “done in haste.”
But she opposes reopening a nuclear plant at the site.
Lawler visited Indian Point in March with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, urging Hochul to reopen the facility.
Lawler’s campaign, meanwhile, accused Conley of caving to radical environmental activists, and of having “no energy plan.”
“Cait Conley won’t say one critical word about the Albany Democrats who broke this grid, because the radical climate activist base she answers to won’t allow it,” Riccardi said.
“She’d rather keep her endorsements while your utility bills climb higher.”
Voters in recent polls cited pocketbook concerns such as the overall high cost of living in New York –and gas and electric bills in particular — as top concerns.
A recent analysis of federal data found that New York has the third-highest electricity costs in the country, trailing only Hawaii and California.
Conley promoted her opposition to reopening Indian Point during the Democratic primary, and defends it now, calling the facility “broken and decrepit.”
The energy platform on Conley’s campaign website talks of “stopping Mike Lawler’s drive to reopen Indian Point” and of instead “investing in clean energy, expanding federal investments in solar, wind, and geothermal projects.”
Conley, in a statement to The Post, took a shot at Lawler for previously serving as an energy lobbyist, for a natural gas advocacy group called New Yorkers for Affordable Energy.
“It’s no wonder that former utility lobbyist Mike Lawler is willing to do the utility companies’ bidding and reopen broken and decrepit Indian Point,” Conley said.
“If these monopolies can contribute tens of thousands to Mike Lawler’s campaign and give their CEOs million-dollar bonuses, there’s no reason they should be raising rates for working families.”
She vowed, “When I’m in Congress, I’ll ensure households across the Hudson Valley are no longer crushed under the weight of soaring energy bills by holding these monopolies accountable, mandating rates be tied to better services, capping CEO bonuses, and increasing our energy supply through investment in projects that utilize our natural resources.”
The Indian Point nuclear plant debate shows a clear split between the candidates on a burning issue zapping voters.
Conley has touted hydro power from Quebec down to the city via transmission lines to make up for the power lost from Indian Point, rather than reopen a nuclear plant in Buchanan. The 339-mile Champlain Hudson Power Express is now online.
The Lawler-Conley race is considered a tossup by independent political analysts and one of the most competitive House battles in the country.
The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and The Cook Political Report recently rated the swing district contest a toss-up, while the Fox News Power Rankings moved the race from even to “Lean D.”
Partisans on both sides have conducted surveys showing their candidate ahead, but only narrowly.
A poll conducted by GOP-leaning co/efficient showed Lawler with 50% of the vote to Cait Conley’s 45%, just a five-point spread.
A survey conducted by the political action committee for House Democrats had Conley leading Lawler 51% to 45%.
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