BUCHANAN – U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Congressman Mike Lawler (R, NY-17) are calling for the rebuilding and re-opening of the Indian Point Power Plant in the Village of Buchanan.
With the desolate, shuttering power plant behind them as a backdrop, the duo made their announcement on Friday and blamed Albany Democrats for what they call an energy grid disaster and a drastic increase in utility costs for New York families over the past year.
They cited democratic policies and what they call bad decisions that include the shutting down of Indian Point back in 2021.
Lawler implored Governor Hochul to work with the Trump Administration, the Town of Cortland and the Village of Buchanan to come to an agreement and reopen the plant immediately.
“It’s time to reverse course. It’s time to actually fix the broken energy policies of this state,” said Lawler.
“The reality is this facility right behind me can be rebuilt. This facility could generate the power that is needed for New York. If you want Micron to come to New York, if you want data centers to be built in New York and semiconductors to be built, you need power. You need energy. That requires having the capacity to generate.”
Secretary Wright, who was appointed by President Trump in 2025, stressed the need for reliable energy to meet the regional demand.
“The power that is valuable is the power that will be there in peak demand time,” said Wright. “During the recent cold weather snap, nuclear power was rock steady with no interruption. It doesn’t matter the weather. It doesn’t matter the conditions. Nuclear power is there, rain or shine, under any conditions, and has been for 60 years, right on this location. With a little bit of common sense and a rebuilding effort, 60 more years of 2 plus gigawatts of power can be right here.”
Wright says the plant could be up and running in five years for a little over $10 billion — less than half of what it would cost to build a new plant from scratch.
“It has to be reconstructed but not massively because there is so much still here–the generators, the steam turbines and so much, large heavy equipment is still left,” said Wright.
Holtec International, which acquired Indian Point in 2021, has been dismantling the plant since then.
The company is currently working on restarting a nuclear power plant in Covert, Michigan, which was shut down in 2022.
It will be the first ever restart of a power plant and is scheduled to re-open this year.
Holtec CEO Dr. Kris Singh says he’s confident the same can be done at Indian Point. “It will be new nuclear at the old plant,” said Singh. “We are going to make numerous improvements, but it will be the same power output, maybe ten percent more. It will have all the latest safety features.”
Safety is a continued concern for protestors, who held a rally about a half mile from the plant just before Friday’s announcement.
“I’m a two-time cancer survivor. I’m not interested in being a three-time cancer survivor,” said Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson, who represents District 10 and is chair of the environment committee.
She is also running for Lawler’s 17th District Congressional seat in November.
“We know that no amount of radioactive energy is safe for the human body, and I call on Mike Lawler to do nothing beyond transparently provide oversight to what happens here as we continue to make Holtec an empty relic in the dustpan of history and move forward with a clean energy future that the Hudson Valley needs and depends on to thrive.”
“Nuclear energy is the safest energy source on the planet,” said Wright. “We have to get it moving. The administration has a lot of loan money to go to that effort, and a lot of data center developers will put money in to help fund the restart of that reactor. It will bring new jobs, new opportunity, will bring up wages and bring more tax dollars. Who would be opposed to that?”