Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel said the 5.7 magnitude earthquake that struck near Washington D.C. Tuesday demonstrates that the east coast of the United States faces the dangers of earthquakes that could dramatically affect the Indian Point nuclear facility.

Rep. Engel said, “A seismologist with the U.S. Geological survey says that on the East Coast “you have this old hard, cold crust that does a lovely job of transmitting the waves” so that a quake could be felt hundreds of miles away from the epicenter. The odds of a major earthquake in this area are relatively small, but given the safety record of Indian Point, and the catastrophe that would result, we cannot take the chance.”

Indian Point says it is built to withstand a 6.1 magnitude earthquake.

Indian Point in located only 35 miles from midtown Manhattan and is in the largest concentration of population in the United States. Manhattan is also the financial capital of the world.

“After the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center,” Rep. Engel said, “the government and the Federal Reserve had to take extraordinary steps to stabilize the stock market before allowing it to reopen. The effect of an accident at Indian Point would only multiply the effect, to say nothing of the human cost.

“We must start the process of replacing this danger point and start by denying Indian Point the renewal of its licenses which are up for renewal in the next few years.”

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