[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of East Hampton 8-20-1999 by L.L. No.
31-1999, approved at referendum 11-2-1999. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
A.
The Town Board hereby finds that under § 20 of the Executive
Law, it is the responsibility of the State of New York to protect
the public safety of its residents in the event of a natural or man-made
disaster, including a radiological accident. Article 2-B of said law
provides for the preparation of state and local disaster preparedness
plans, including disaster prevention, disaster response and recovery.
B.
As a result of numerous public meetings held on eastern Long Island,
the Town Board finds that the residents of the town have demonstrated
legitimate public safety concerns with regard to the operation of
the nuclear electric generating facilities in the nearby State of
Connecticut. Specifically, the Millstone facilities in Waterford,
Connecticut operate within a distance of 50 miles of where one-half
million New Yorkers reside. Most parts of the Town of East Hampton
is within a twenty-mile radius of this facility.
C.
Millstone has been closed seven times in recent months and has discharged
radioactive water into Long Island Sound. It is clear this facility
is not being operated safely and should be closed, pending a complete
review of public health and safety issues.
D.
Existing United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations
provide for a flexible ten-mile emergency planning zone. The exact
size and configuration of the emergency planning zone in a particular
case will be determined in relation to local emergency response needs
and capabilities, including factors such as demography, topography,
land characteristics, access routes and jurisdictional boundaries.
These statutory criteria have not been applied to the special circumstances
on Long Island as evidenced by the rigid ten-mile emergency planning
zone for Millstone, which includes only Fishers Island within the
State of New York.
E.
In the case of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Station, it was the position
of the State of New York and this town that all of eastern Long Island
was required to be included within the emergency planning zone. It
was also the policy that there was no safe evacuation plan that could
be prepared and implemented that would adequately protect the public
safety of eastern Long Island. As a result, the State of New York
entered into an agreement with the Long Island Lighting Company, the
operator of the facility, for its closure and dismantling.
F.
The Town Board finds that many of the same emergency response issues
associated with Shoreham are also presented by Millstone. Specifically,
the fact that the region is an island whose eastern ends are two long
narrow forks presents unique evacuation issues. In addition, the area
is characterized as a second home and tourist destination where the
population more than triples during the summer months. The region
is also immediately adjacent to the New York City metropolitan area
with more than 10,000,000 people. Finally, its highway system is characterized
by a single two-lane east-west highway route which would be the only
major route for an evacuation.
G.
Based on these findings, the Town Board concludes that:
(1)
Millstone should be closed pending further study;
(2)
There must be an emergency planning zone of 50 miles from the Millstone
facility for Long Island;
(3)
The feasibility of a safe evacuation plan must be studied; and
(4)
The approval or acceptance of such a plan must be subject to the
strictest review.
H.
This local law is subject to a mandatory referendum because it limits
the future authority of the elected Town Board.
The Town Board hereby requests the United States Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to close the Millstone Nuclear Power Station until the
issues outlined in this local law relating to emergency planning zones
and evacuation plans have been addressed and approved by the State
of New York and its affected political subdivisions within 50 miles
of the Millstone facility.
The Town Board hereby requests the State of New York to file
a petition with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
provide for a fifty-mile plume exposure pathway emergency planning
zone for the benefit of eastern Long Island.
The Town Board hereby requests that the State of New York undertake
the preparation of a report addressing the feasibility of a safe and
implementable emergency plan for eastern Long Island within the fifty-mile
radius in connection with the Millstone Nuclear Power Station.
Any action by the Town Board of the Town of East Hampton to
approve, accept, implement or appropriate money in connection with
an emergency plan in connection with the Millstone Nuclear Power Station
will require a unanimous vote of the Town Board.
Pursuant to § 23, Subdivision 2f, of the Municipal
Home Rule Law, this local law curtails the power of the Town Board,
thereby requiring a mandatory referendum. Therefore, the following
proposition will be submitted to the electors of the Town of East
Hampton at the general election to be held November 2, 1999:
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"Shall Local Law No. 31 of 1999, entitled 'A local law
advocating the closure of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station, requesting
the State of New York to petition the United Nuclear Regulatory Commission
to establish a fifty-mile plume exposure pathway emergency planning
zone for Long Island in relation to said nuclear power station, requesting
the State of New York to undertake a report of the feasibility of
an emergency plan for Long Island in relation to said nuclear power
station, and requiring a unanimous vote of the Town Board with regard
to any town approval, acceptance, implementation, or appropriation
in connection with an emergency plan for said nuclear power station'
be approved?"
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If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part of this
local law shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction
to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate
the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the
clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part thereof directly involved
in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.
This local law shall take effect after voter approval at the
general election to be held November 2, 1999, by the affirmative vote
of the qualified electors of the Town of East Hampton upon the proposition.
