CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

WHITE PLAINS (AP) — The huge numbers of fish sucked to their death by the cooling system at the Indian Point nuclear plant prove that the system harms the Hudson River environment, a state official has ruled.

The finding by J. Jared Snyder, assistant commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, is a victory for plant critics who claim that up to 1.2 billion fish and eggs are killed each year as the plant continuously draws in river water for use as a coolant.

Snyder said that even the lowest estimate of fish deaths — 900,000 annually — “represents excessive fish kills” and establishes an adverse environmental impact.

The ruling, issued this month, means that the plant’s owner, Entergy Nuclear, may no longer raise the environmental- impact issue as it battles the state’s order to build costly towers that recycle cooling water and make big river intakes unnecessary. Entergy had argued that the river’s adult fish populations have been stable.

The towers could cost Entergy more than $1.6 billion.