Press Releases

Pearl River, N.Y. – 3/11/26… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler released the following statement in response to comments from Rockland County Legislators Alden Wolfe and Beth Davidson opposing efforts to reopen the former Indian Point Energy Center.

“Residents in Rockland County and across the Hudson Valley are suffocating under rising energy prices because of New York’s disastrous energy policies. In fact, since the announced closure of Indian Point, New York has seen a nation-leading 58% increase in electricity costs.

In just a few months, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, will reopen the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant after recognizing the economic and energy consequences of losing a reliable source of power.

The facility is now expected to become the first nuclear power plant in the United States to restart after being closed. Once operational again, it will provide safe, clean, and reliable electricity (over 1 GW) for roughly 800,000 homes, helping keep energy costs down.

If Michigan can do it, there is no reason New York can’t. We need an across-the-board approach to bring down energy prices, and reopening Indian Point will go a long way toward achieving that.

Spineless politicians like Beth Davidson and Alden Wolfe are part of the problem; they are more interested in letting politics, not science, drive our energy decisions and are happy to kill good-paying union jobs, crush our municipalities and school districts with lost tax revenue, and stop clean, reliable, and affordable energy for consumers.

I look forward to hearing their plan to reduce energy costs, maybe during their respective political campaigns they can inform voters how they actually plan to reduce costs.”

Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York's 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.

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