State Senator Rob Rolison (39th District) released a statement Friday, following the upper chamber’s unanimous passage of S.6893, his co-sponsored bipartisan legislation which would make it unlawful to discharge any radiological substance into the Hudson River in connection with the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant. The bill passed 62-0. 

Holtec, the company involved in Indian Point’s decommissioning since the nuclear plant was shuttered in 2021, delayed its original May 2023 plan to dump approximately 1 million gallons of tritium-laced reactor water into the river after concerned citizens and local governments along the Hudson worked together to stop it. If signed into law, the legislation would empower the state attorney general’s office to impose civil fines for any related violation in the future.

“When Hudson Valley residents turn on their faucet, they want to know that what is coming out of the spout is clean, safe -- and will remain so in the future. Today’s Senate passage of bipartisan legislation, which I co-sponsored to protect our Hudson River watershed from radioactive dumping, is a victory for more than 100,000 people who derive drinking water from the river. As mayor of the City of Poughkeepsie, I signed a first-of-its-kind intermunicipal agreement with six other communities to safeguard this vital state resource for future generations. Those pioneering protections continue today, thanks to members of both parties working together to preserve our environment,” said Rolison.