The New York Public Service Commission on Tuesday denied Entergy’s request for an administrative law judge to handle the company’s objections to the state’s investigation of the Indian Point nuclear power plant (15-02730).

Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the PSC to investigate plant operations and finances after two unplanned outages in December. Entergy has called the investigation “political” and objected to turning over documents that it says are outside the scope of any state investigation. (See Entergy Disputes Investigation of Indian Point, Calls it Political.)

“The appointment of an ALJ is neither appropriate nor needed. This matter is a special investigation ‘directed by the governor and performed by PSC staff, into specific problems or events at a facility,’ with which Entergy is required to cooperate,” the commission said. An ALJ acting as a referee “would not expedite resolution of disputes” as contested rulings would lead to more administrative appeals, it said.

The NYPSC has made five requests for “batches” of documents related to plant operations from Dec. 28 to Jan. 22. Cuomo wants the initial findings of the investigation reported by Feb. 15.

Entergy said it has complied to the vast majority of the document requests. PSC staff so far has not countered its objections, according to Michael Twomey, Entergy vice president of external affairs.

“We have provided over 300,000 pages of documents, but there are some, for example, related to nuclear safety, that are solely under Nuclear Regulatory Commission jurisdiction,” Twomey said.

State officials have also asked for financial documents from the plant, which the company has also contested.

— William Opalka