Officials for the company that owns the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in Westchester are trying to build public support in New York City for its operating license to be renewed with mail targeting the African-American community in Brooklyn. Zack Fink filed the following report.

ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y. – Some mailers targeting homes in Brooklyn are clearly aimed at African-American households, like one that claims 4.5 million African-Americans have asthma. The literature then goes on to say that 71 percent of African-Americans live in areas with poor air quality, and that nuclear energy does not pollute.  

Assemblyman Nick Perry of Brooklyn is the chair of the legislature's black and Latino caucus.

"Every once in a while, the nuclear folks in Westchester get concerned about their license, and they try to pump up some support for their operation there," he said.

As it turns out, Indian Point's license is up for renewal this December for the first time in its 40-year history. The federal government issues the license for Indian Point, which is located roughly 25 miles north of New York City.

In a statement, a spokesman for Entergy, the company that runs Indian Point, said, "These flyers are one component of our overall effort to communicate with the public about the economic, environmental, and reliability benefits that New Yorkers receive from Indian Point."

"Well, obviously, re-licensing is the issue," said Cliff Weathers of Riverkeeper. "It's coming up very quickly, and public sentiment is moving away from them, so what they're doing is, they're probably spending seven figures on these flyers, sending them out, trying to change that opinion."

The plant generates 25 percent of the power used by New York City, but opponents say there are serious safety concerns associated with Indian Point and its 40-year-old technology. The threat used to be just terrorism. Now, it's also extreme weather. They point to the Fukushima tsunami disaster in Japan.

"Well, we've had several problems," Weathers said. "We had a transformer fire back around Mother's Day. That's the third transformer fire in eight years."

Technically speaking, neither the New York State Legislature nor the governor have any say over whether Indian Point gets its license renewed. It's up to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Further complicating matters is that New York City and Westchester rely so heavily on Indian Point for power.