Whether you support or oppose the use of nuclear power, a decision to build a nuclear power plant in the Southern Tier will affect you. 

A nuclear power plant has an outsized impact on a community. Property values can be affected. If tax abatements are offered, costs can be transferred to local taxpayers. Yet a for-profit power plant would also raise energy prices to recover those costs, even those that are subsidized. Of course, nuclear power plants create a low but measurable safety risk to adjacent communities. At a time when the Federal government is rolling back its regulation of industry and it's ability to monitor safety and compliance, a new nuclear plant project has increased risk.

For these reasons, such a decision should not be made behind closed doors. If we don't act now, these discussions will continue under the radar until it is too late to act.

Local government should present a detailed risk/cost/benefit analysis to the public for an extended discussion period. No approval of a nuclear power plant project should proceed without a binding voter referendum ON ELECTION DAY (to maximize participation).