| First of all, Gibson has said, many times, that one of his top priorities is getting a nuclear power plant built in NY-20, presumably somewhere on the Hudson River.
The weird part is that nuclear power plants do not get built via Congressional press releases or Congressmen chatting up reporters.
They get built by energy corporations who decide they can get it done politically and economically at a particular site, and will make money doing so.
No energy corporation has expressed any public interest in doing what Gibson is promoting for NY-20. They are no doubt well aware that attempting such a project on the Hudson will be a long, expensive, and probably fruitless endeavor.
Second, nuclear power is extraordinarily dependent on federal government subsidies.
Here's what the leader of the conservative Taxpayers for Common Sense has to say about that, at Politico:
We have to question those who consider themselves fiscal conservatives [while] supporting nuclear power, which is, essentially, the most heavily subsidized form of power.
And here's what the CEO of Excelon, the top owner of U.S. nuclear plants, thinks about the federal loan guarantees that are essential to any new nuclear project, also at Politico:
Except with massive subsidies, there's really nothing one can do to make a whole lot of nuclear plants economic right now.
Besides loan guarantees, the federal government provides many billions in subsidies to the nuclear power industry via insurance liability assumption, waste disposal, research and development, etc.
Third, nuclear power is extraordinarily expensive, even with all the federal subsidies.
A new 1,000-megawatt nuke will cost about $10 billion, and take 10 years or more to build, from first press release to generating power.
One of the major reasons New York's electricity rates are among the highest in the country is that we get about 20 percent of our electricity from expensive nuclear power plants.
Gibson, cluelessly, wants to make our electricity even more expensive.
Fourth, Gibson has mendaciously promoted nuclear power as a way to provide property tax relief throughout NY-20.
In the extremely unlikely event that such a plant gets built, it will pay property taxes in one school district, one town. and one county.
NY-20 has 60 or so school districts and more than 100 towns/villages/cities in its 10 counties, so most of the district will get nothing from a new nuke than higher electric bills.
Fifth, Gibson has said that his singular nuclear advocacy is just part of his "all of the above" energy strategy, which he's regurgitating from the House Republican leadership.
But while he's been promoting nukes at every opportunity, including personally with President Obama, there is no public evidence of his promoting other ways of producing electricity in any way.
Low-head hydro, wind, natural gas, river tidal, pumped storage, solar, etc., can all work in NY-20, but all Gibson cares about in his "all of the above" strategy is nuclear.
The most expensive, most government-subsidized, way to boil water ever. |
