Greg Ball Is So Green He Glows In The Dark

During his aborted campaign for Congress, Assemblyman Greg Ball asked reporters to Google him.  It seems Greg Ball now prudently avoids such come-ons while he runs to replace Vincent Leibell in the New York State Senate.  This is a wise choice by Ball, as greater scrutiny would undermine the misleading image he has worked so hard to develop.

Greg Ball consistently attempts to portray himself as a green conservative.  But, as the Ball Monitor has previously demonstrated, this is not really the case.  Ball has voted against the bigger better bottle bill (legislation supported by the Sierra Club and the New York Farm Bureau) and voted against the establishment of a New York State electronic waste recycling program and emergency funding to operate New York State’s parks through the Memorial Day weekend.

Given his voting record, further environmental hypocrisy by Assemblyman Ball is not surprising.  Earlier this year, Ball sided with the Nuclear Industry over the interests of his Hudson Valley constituents by voting against Assemblyman Brodsky’s A.5193.  The Brodsky bill would set an annual fee that licensed nuclear electric generating facilities would be liable for to support state and local government responsibilities under accepted radiological emergency preparedness plans.

This legislation, which would have made nuclear operators share the safety burden their plant impose on surrounding communities, is especially important to the Hudson Valley, which is home the controversial Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC) in Buchanan, New York. Indian Point is just 35 miles north of New York City in a more densely populated area than any of the nation’s 66 other nuclear plant sites, according to the New York Times, and is also one of the oldest nuclear stations in the nation, making the emergency response issue uniquely critical.

The company that owns Indian Point earned $3.74 billion in profits last year and could easily afford to compensate local governments for the cost of their emergency preparations.  Regardless of where one stands on nuclear power generally and the future of Indian Point in particular, it is only fair that energy company’s pay their fair share.  Unfortunately, rather than stand with Hudson Valley taxpayers, Greg Ball voted to subsidize private nuclear operators.

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