Fish-friendly power plant upgrades sought

By The Associated Press
Posted: 5:40 pm Thu, March 11, 2010

ALBANY — Power plants that suck millions of gallons of water daily out of New York rivers will have to switch to costly fish-friendly cooling towers under new rules proposed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Entergy Corp.’s Indian Point nuclear plant on the Hudson River north of New York City is among the facilities potentially affected by the regulations proposed Wednesday.

Environmentalists have long pushed regulators to make Entergy install new technology, saying the plant kills billions of fish and fish eggs annually.

Entergy has said forcing the installation of water-recycling cooling towers would significantly raise electricity costs and shut the plant down for 10 months for retrofitting.

The proposal is open to public comment through May 9.