nj travel teams

OVERVIEW What Sets Jersey Elite Baseball Apart...

Setting expectations commitment, tournaments & events, types of tournaments locations & travel.

• Perfect Game.................................(NJ,PA,NY,GA,FL)
• PBR....................................................(NY,GA,MO,OH)
• Diamond Nation............................(Flemington, NJ)
• Maplezone Sports Institute MSI...(Philadelphia, PA)
• Rock Sports Park..............................(Chester, NY)
• Futurestarz.....................................(NJ, PA)
• Ripken Experience..........................(MD, SC, FL)
• Sports At the Beach........................(Rehoboth DE)
• Lasorda Legacy Park.......................(Long Island NY)
• In the NET,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...................(Hershey, PA; Ocean City, MD)
• ECTB..................................................(Lehigh Valley, PA)
• USABL,GMG & SIF local tournaments........(NJ, NY)

COSTS Low Costs Benefits All

Contact us interested in tryout or details.

FutureStarz Champs

Diamond Nation Championship

GMG Tourney Champs

2021 League Champs

Spring Fling 2022 Champs

Villanova University Showcase

TAKEOVER BASEBALL

Looking for 8U, 9U, 13U, & 14U Players  - To Register For A Tryout Click Here

Click here for information on velocity and arm care clinic, home of the 2023 13u usabl world series champions.

Takeover 13U Orange Wins 4th USABL League Championship In A Row

9U Takeover Takes Two From Scotch Plains-Blue

Takeover 13U Orange Nationally and State Ranked!

ABOUT TAK EOVER

Takeover Baseball is a travel baseball organization led by two passionate, detail oriented, educators and coaches. We seek to develop and train baseball players in the skills they will need to play at a high level to achieve their goals. We advocate, communicate, and work hard to reach the needs of each and every member of our team. Takeover Baseball is only for those who want to play at the next level. 

We seek to develop and train baseball players in the skills they will need to play at a high level to achieve their goals. We advocate, communicate, and work hard to reach the needs of each and every member of our team. Takeover Baseball is only for those who want to play at the next level. 

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9U       10U       11U       12U       13U

NJ Baseball Academy is excited to offer competitive travel baseball teams that focus on individual player development in a fun team setting.

We guarantee an unmatched baseball development experience, a high level of professionalism from our staff, and a transparent process that cultivates open communication.

Our teams train at the top indoor baseball space in South Jersey that includes 4 full-size infields, batting cages, pitching mounds, and innovative technology.

Professional coaches will lead and mentor our boys in competition at many of the best tournament venues in the region.

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ITZ is the NEW home of Register To Tryout For Club / Travel Baseball Teams Looking For Players – CLICK HERE To Learn More

Register to tryout for sabre college showcase teams – click here  to learn more.

New Jersey travel baseball team tryouts now handled by SABRE Baseball!

RECRUITING FOR ITZ KNIGHTS COOPERSTOWN 2024 & 2025

Cooperstown 2024 : for players that will be 12 (or younger) on april 30, 2024 click here for more info on cooperstown 2024, cooperstown 2025 : for players that will be 12 (or younger) on april 30, 2025 click here for more info on cooperstown 2025, privacy overview.

CENTRAL JERSEY REBELS

The Central Jersey Rebels\Trenton Thunder Baseball Academy is a youth travel baseball organization located in Mercer County, NJ, with a passion for the game of baseball, and a love of developing talent. The organizations’ mission is to help players develop and improve baseball skills, create a positive environment for players to grow, and to build leaders who will be able to model strong character on and off the field. The goal is to have all players in the organization to have presence and positive impact on their community. Quality instruction, building humble, confident competitors who enjoy establishing their place on the fields of local and regional competitions is at the forefront of the organizations overall focus on player development.

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The rebels way.

Top Notch Training

• Supportive/Competitive Environment
• Player Growth/Development
• Family Owned & Operated
• Community Partners / Community Service
• Clear Communication

Mental Approach

Baseball IQ

Sportsmanship

• Player Development Opportunities

OUR LEADERSHIP

Matt Sweeney Co-Founder/Coach

Matt, a lifelong resident of Hamilton Township (Mercer County) grew up playing baseball in local recreational leagues until attending Steinert High School (1998-2001). During his Senior year at Steinert, Matt began the recruiting process and gained attention from Major League scouts. In June 2001, Matt was drafted in the 11th round (320th overall) of the 2001 MLB Amateur Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. Matt played 8 seasons (2001-2008) of professional baseball appearing in 193 games and pitching 724 innings. He spent 6 seasons with the Phillies and pitched as high as class AA (Reading Phillies). After becoming a free agent, Matt played for teams in the Atlantic League (Newark Bears-2007/2008, & Bridgeport Bluefish-2008), and in the Carolina League (Salem Avalanche-Houston Astros, 2007) until he sustained a career ending shoulder injury which led to his retirement in 2009. Since retirement from professional baseball, Matt has coached youth national and travel baseball teams, facilitated coaching seminars, hosted camps, coordinated team training sessions, conducted pitching clinics, and developed a throwing program that teaches players how to approach the game with proper mechanics and mental strength. Most recently, he became co-owner of the Central Jersey Rebels/Trenton Thunder Baseball Academy which provides baseball opportunities for local and surrounding communities for players ages 6 to 17 years old. Matt’s passion for the game of baseball and teaching helps the players of tomorrow set and reach their goals. His experiences as a player and player developer have provided him with the skills and mindset/motivation which he continues to pass along to players who are looking to take their skills to the next level. Creating a supportive yet competitive environment based on personal physical, mental, and emotional growth is at the forefront of his approach to developing players. Matt hopes to be a positive source of information to all players and families.  

Danielle Sweeney

[email protected]

Kristen Leonardo

[email protected]

Gary Leonardo Co-Founder/Coach

Gary has had the privilege of playing under some of the best coaches in the area. His knowledge and experience as a player and a coach has provided him with the tools to bring the absolute best out of each young athlete. Leading by example, Gary instills in each player the mindset that passion and hard work equals results.

​ Gary has been involved in all levels of youth sports and continues to be an innovator in training. He believes in the sense of team and community. In order for his plans to come to fruition, Gary has surrounded himself with the best group of minds and fellow athletes to provide a platform for players to succeed and grow.

​ The Rebels is a program that was designed to go against the grain and change the overall idea of what travel baseball “should” be like. That approach sums up Gary in a nutshell. No matter what, Gary puts all players/families needs ahead of his own. He will not stop until every person involved in this program has exactly what they need. Gary’s passion for sports and success, is something he hopes he can pass along to all players who come through the program.

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• 46′ – 60′ field
• Basic Fundamentals
• Proper Fielding Techniques
• Cutoffs and relay positioning
• Mental focus training
• Confidence building
• Beginner rundowns
• Beginner sign awareness
• Fall League season/Spring Tournament team
• Learn proper sportsmanship and how to carry yourself on the field with class
• 50′ – 70′ field
• Learning the 50′ – 70′ field
• Working from the stretch
• Holding runners
• Proper leads from all bases
• Stealing with a lead
• Double-cut relays
• 1st and 3rd situations (offense and defense)
• Intermediate sign awareness
• Re-enforcement of sportsmanship and class
• Advanced 50′-70′ training
• Developing a readiness to advance to the big diamond 60′-90′ field
• Advanced hitting situations
• Learning a mental approach at the plate
• Learning a mental approach on the mound
• Advanced pick-off plays
• Advanced rundowns
• Beginner curveballs
• 60′ – 90′ field
• Learn the 60′-90′ diamond
• Build arm strength
• Big diamond cutoffs/advanced double-cuts
• Game situational training
• Advanced mental approach
• Big diamond rundowns
• Advanced situational plays
• Advanced sign interpretation
• Introduction to curveballs for pitch selection
• Fall League season/Spring Tournament team/Summer League season
• Tournament based team
• Begin to give a career path for specific position for players
• Learning advanced game situations
• Advanced pick-off plays/rundowns
• Game ready mental development
• Fall League season/Summer Tournament team
• Begin to give a career path for specific position for players for college
• Continued learning of advanced game situations
• Continued learning of advanced pick-off plays/rundowns
• Game ready mental development/Mental approach
• High profile Tournament based team
• Showcase team for college
• College video preparation and marketing
• Help guide players to schools for their playing level
• Prepare players for their fall freshman college season

Copyright © 2019 | Alright Rights Reserved Morris County Cubs | Website Designer NJ     New Wave Digital Designs

Youth Travel baseball Teams

Team managers and coaches.

COACH DOMINGO

Domingo Estevez was signed by the Blue Jays organization as a free agent in 1995. He was a middle infielder who displayed great defense,

COACH HAMLY

Coach Hamly Suero has trained youth athletes for several years up to this point. In various sports, he has trained athletes since 2014,

COACH DEREK

Derek Edge is a current coach at Stadium Sports who has coached for over 7 years at this point. He went to High School here in Bayonne,

last out of 13u usabl summer league semi-finals

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We currently offer youth travel baseball teams, operating out of Hudson County, NJ. For the Summer 2021 season, we are offering 11U and 14U-16U teams.

N.J. coach accused of offering teen player $1,000 to send him sexual images

• Updated: Apr. 05, 2024, 4:12 p.m. |
• Published: Apr. 04, 2024, 5:03 p.m.
• Matthew Enuco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A Hunterdon County coach was arrested and charged with endangering a minor after authorities say he exchanged sexually explicit messages with a player, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said Thursday.

Brett Clay, 39, of Flemington was charged with second degree endangering the welfare of a minor and was arrested on Mar. 28, officials said.

Clay was the Director of Elite Club and Recruiting for the Center Court Field Hockey program in Flanders, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. Clay was not listed as a coach on Center Court’s website Thursday.

“On March 28, 2024, Centercourt was informed of the arrest of a member of our Field Hockey staff,” Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Matt Rizzuto said in a statement Thursday night. “Immediately upon being told of the incident, this individual was placed on indefinite leave from Centercourt, pending the investigation by the Bridgewater Township Police Department and the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Offices.”

Rizzuto said Clay is not permitted to return to Center Court or act on the company’s behalf while on leave.

“Should the charges against the employee be substantiated, Centercourt will move forth swiftly with the termination of this individual from all employment with Centercourt,” Rizzuto said. “It is our first priority that all players, families, and visitors of Centercourt feel safe.”

Bridgewater Township police alerted the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office on Mar. 27 about a report of a field hockey coach allegedly exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 17-year-old player from Bridgewater, authorities said.

Investigators interviewed the teenager, who said she communicated with her travel coach through text messages, the officials said. Those messages allegedly became increasingly sexual in nature starting in late December 2023, authorities said.

She told investigators that Clay at one point offered her money for sexually explicit photos, authorities said. According to court records, Clay allegedly offered the player $1,000 to film herself in sexual acts.

Clay was arrested last Thursday in Raritan Township and was being held at the Somerset County Jail awaiting a detention hearing, officials said.

An attorney for Clay was not immediately listed Thursday.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include a statement from Center Court.

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Why are more North Jersey lacrosse teams playing out-of-state early in the season?

It was Thursday night in Tampa when the St. Joseph lacrosse team faced off with a mechanical bull.

The Green Knights were finishing up a two-game, five-day business trip in the Gulf Coast heat when players filed into a restaurant with a rodeo kick.

For coach Dan DaPonte, some levity in April can lead to wins in May and memories for a lifetime. So he budgeted time in this year's team-bonding tour for swimming, Spikeball and seeing who can hang on for dear life.

"They just have a great time being around each other and it's good to see kids who are really quiet coming out of their shell," DaPonte said. "We're seeing them in a different atmosphere. We're not seeing them in the locker room or on the field in practice. They're just hanging out."

More and more lacrosse teams are now incorporating travel into their spring agendas. This year, at least seven North Jersey programs went out-of-state for an early game or scrimmage – not including short drives over the New York border.

That list ranges from traditional powers like Bergen Catholic and Don Bosco to Group 1 squads like the Waldwick girls.

The motives behind the long-distance trips are varied. Some chase warmer weather and tough opponents. Others look for a way to bring their players together.

Fundraising events help defray the cost.

"The kids pay towards the trip, but not an exorbitant amount," Wayne Hills boys lacrosse coach Marc Jacobson said. "Our booster club and fundraising help cover about 75 percent of the trip."

While Florida is a popular hotspot this time of year, not everyone is chasing the rays.

Jacobson likes to tie his trips around a college campus and made past stops at Towson, Penn and Yale, among others. This year, the Patriots went up to Boston for four days in March and watched Harvard at a game and walk-through. During his time up north, Jacobson also brought his team to Paul Revere's house and Quincy Market.

The idea to get away came from his father Steve, a former lacrosse coach who logged plenty of miles while at Fair Lawn and Hunterdon Central.

"When (his players) come back for reunions, they don't talk about the games. They talk about the experiences they had on the trips," Jacobson said. "These have been 30 or 40 years later and they're talking about how good the trips were and how memorable they were. When I started at Hills, I wanted to bring that here. Our kids get to see parts of the country they haven't seen."

One of the other elements of team building comes with the room assignments. Before each trip, Jacobson will sit down with his captains to figure out the best way to group players.

"It was based on position," Ramsey boys lacrosse coach Dan DeMartino said. "All the attackmen room together. All the midfielders and defensemen and goalies. We wanted them to build a relationship with their mates that will be on their line."

"We kind of intentionally put kids together that aren't best friends," said DaPonte, whose team visited Nashville last spring and Charleston back in 2022. "When we get the room assignments, it's usually a senior, a junior and a sophomore. We don't let the seniors all hang together."

Nowadays, finding the right opponent is easier than ever with programs like LaxNumbers and companies that match up teams.

Ramsey went through KSA Events for its preseason trip to Orlando and suddenly had three teams from three different states added to its schedule. Still, there were constant reminders of home amidst the daily theme park tours and temperatures in the 70's.

By the time DeMartino flew back, he and his players spotted at least five other Bergen County teams, including the Rams' softball program.

"With the preseason being so short, it's nice that we had that experience because it was almost like a training camp for us," DeMartino said. 

When it comes to travel, no division around here has a wider geographic footprint than the Gibbs. Ridgewood scrimmaged in Delaware, Bergen Catholic swept a two-game swing down in Virginia and Don Bosco booked April games in Maryland and Connecticut.

St. Joseph, meanwhile, was dusting off the cobwebs against two Floridian schools near the tail end of their spring season.

"They're in game shape," DaPonte said. "They're ready for that 80 degree heat that we hit on Thursday. There's not much we could do to prepare for that atmosphere up here. There's value in putting our kids in uncomfortable situations and letting them figure it out."

Whatever the circumstances may be, the hope is that spending some time on the road will pay off in the long-run back home.

"We told the girls before we left that they would go down as a team and come back as a family and that’s exactly what happened," said Waldwick coach Christina Evans, who brought the Warriors to Orlando in March.

"When you go out of state and travel together, playing competitive teams, it really was the boost we needed heading into the season. The girls are closer than ever."

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USABL runs THE most organized league that we have played in.  The reason we put so many of our teams in their leagues and tournaments each year is due to the fact that they make your schedule, provide umpires and allow you to rank your team based on prior performance or expected level of play. Their website and app are user friendly to update roster, scores etc.  Everything they do is done the right way and in a timely matter. Our experience has been nothing but positive with Brian, Schif and their team. - NJ Gamers Baseball

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Rare 4.8 magnitude quake rattles Northeast

By Elise Hammond , Leinz Vales and Matt Meyer , CNN

Why mild East Coast earthquakes are felt over such long distances

From CNN's David Goldman

Did you feel that?

It wasn't just folks in Western New Jersey who were texting "what was that?" messages in the mid-morning Friday. People as far away as Maryland and Upstate New York reported feeling an earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey . A former CNN editor in Vermont said glasses fell off her shelf.

How is that possible, considering it was just a mild 4.8 magnitude earthquake, not enough to cause any significant damage?

The rock formations that make up America's East Coast are considerably older than those on the West Coast — hundreds of millions of years older, according to the USGS . That makes them much denser.

Imagine putting your left hand down on a piece of slate and knocking on it with your right hand. You'd feel that. That's like how the East Coast is formed.

But now imagine putting your hand down on a pebble driveway and knocking — not so much. That's the West Coast. So even though earthquakes tend to be much stronger in the western part of the country, they're not felt nearly as far away as weaker quakes in the East.

Rail service is being slowed in the Northeast due to the earthquake

From CNN's Greg Wallace and Pete Muntea

Train service is being slowed after the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled the Northeast this morning.

Amtrak said started inspecting its tracks shortly after 11 a.m. ET, and put speed restrictions in place throughout the region until those inspections were complete.

New Jersey Transit said there would be up to 20-minute delays in both directions due to bridge inspections after the quake.

Newark Light Rail service was suspended system-wide, according to NJ Transit. The River Line Light Rail service, meanwhile, was suspended in both directions between the Waterfront Entertainment Center and Trenton due to track inspections.

NOW: New York governor holds news briefing on earthquake

From CNN's Samantha Beech

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is holding a news briefing at the State Capitol following this morning’s earthquake.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other city administration officials will hold a separate news briefing to discuss the impacts of the earthquake at 12 p.m. ET, according to his spokesperson.

New York governor says her team is assessing any impacts from quake

From CNN staff

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said her team will be assessing any impact and any damage that may have resulted from the earthquake that struck New Jersey on Friday.

On X , Hochul said, “A 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit west of Manhattan and has been felt throughout New York. My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day.” and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day.”

Hochul will hold a press briefing soon on the earthquake at the State Capitol, according to a notification from her office.

Philadelphia police aware of reports of seismic activity and urge people not to call 911 unless of emergency

From CNN’s Danny Freeman in Philadelphia

Philadelphia Police have asked people to only call 911 if they are reporting an emergency, following Friday's 4.8 magnitude earthquake in New Jersey.

Philadelphia Gov. Josh Shapiro added in a tweet that the earthquake was felt in parts of Pennsylvania.

"My team and @PEMAHQ are actively monitoring the situation and in contact with counties on any damage. We will keep Pennsylvanians updated," he said.

Biden has been briefed on earthquake, White House says

From CNN's Samantha Waldenberg

President Joe Biden has been briefed on Friday’s earthquake , according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. 

Jean-Pierre  posted on social media  that the president is “in touch with his team who are monitoring potential impacts.” She added that the White House is in “touch with federal, state, and local officials as we learn more."

NYPD transit chief says no reports of structural damage to transit system following earthquake

There are no reports of damage to New York City's transit system following this morning's earthquake, New York City Police Department Chief of Transit Michael M. Kemper said.

Kemper said he has been briefed by his team regarding the earthquake felt across parts of the Northeast.

“There are no current reports of any structural damage and/or service disruptions to the NYC Transit system as a result,”  he said . “That said, our team is continuing to survey all lines & stations and we will keep you updated.”

No major incidents following earthquake, New York City Fire Department says

From CNN’s Nic F. Anderson in New York

The New York City Fire Department said there are no major incidents it is responding to at this time, in the aftermath of the New Jersey earthquake.

An FDNY spokesperson told CNN that around 10:30 a.m. ET, FDNY received reports of shaking buildings.

“We are responding to calls and evaluating structural stability. There are no major incidents at this time. We will continue to monitor," the spokesperson added.

Northeast earthquake is disrupting air travel

From CNN's Greg Wallace

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake in the Northeast is impacting air travel.  

The Federal Aviation Administration said flights to the New York Kennedy, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Newark airports were being held.  

The air traffic control tower at Newark Liberty airport is being evacuated, a controller said in a radio transmission after the earthquake. That meant the flights were being held while controllers moved to an alternate location.  

"Nobody's going to go anywhere for the time being," a controller said over the radio frequency.  

The runways were in the process of being inspected for damage. Shortly after the earthquake, controllers at LaGuardia were still clearing flights for departure there.  

Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Jeannie Shiffer calls the earthquake’s impact on air travel a “rapidly evolving situation.”

FAA will have to inspect runways at New York’s JFK and Newark airports before operations can resume.

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By barge, rail or truck? Feds propose travel routes for Indian Point's nuclear fuel

At Indian Point nuclear power plant , 125 hardened casks of spent radioactive fuel sit idle, waiting until the federal government can figure out how to safely transport and dispose of them.

So far, no one's been able come up with a plan everyone can agree on, but hundreds of pages of documents offer clues on the range of options.

The radioactive waste stored at Indian Point could be trucked to Connecticut along U.S. 9, to Metro-North railyards in the lower Hudson Valley or by barge along the Hudson River, according to an Energy Department study of shuttered nuclear power plants.

The 558-page study released in February is based on site visits over the past 12 years at 18 power plants in 13 states, as well as one still in operation and a nuclear waste site, both in Illinois.

It offers up dozens of potential truck, rail and barge routes that could be used to alleviate the nuclear power industry’s biggest headache as it tries to capitalize on the nation’s push for carbon-free energy sources: What to do with spent fuel stranded at 75 sites across the U.S.A.

Nearly 90,000 metric tons of radioactive waste is being stored at the nation’s nuclear power plants at a cost to the federal government of more than $9 billion and counting. The total is expected to grow by 2,000 metric tons a year.

And there’s still no place to put it. A decades-old effort to build an underground repository in the Mojave Desert northwest of Las Vegas floundered in 2010 amid political opposition. Efforts to build interim sites in western states are mired in legal challenges spearheaded by the oil and gas industry.

Anti-nuclear groups say the answer is keeping it where it is — at shuttered and operating nuclear power plants in 33 states.

They say it’s too dangerous to move radioactive material across public highways, railroads and waterways.

“That DOE is relying even more so than ever, it seems, on barge shipping, is very concerning,” said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist for the anti-nuclear group Beyond Nuclear. “I mean, look at what just happened in Baltimore. What if a high-level radioactive waste barge were involved in a major disaster like that?”

Beyond Nuclear is fighting efforts to build interim repositories for the waste in Texas and New Mexico, where it has found allies in oil and gas companies eager to keep drilling in the Permian Basin.

Radioactive fuel on trucks to Connecticut, lower Hudson Valley?

Several of the shuttered plants studied don’t have direct rail access, which means multiple modes of transportation would be needed, in some cases all three.

At Indian Point, the 125 casks of spent fuel housed at the site could be put on trucks and delivered to nearby rail links.

The report lists eight routes for heavy trucks, most of which would use U.S. 9 North. Four options include travel to rail links in the Connecticut towns of Newtown or Danbury.

Fuel: Nuclear waste stranded at Indian Point as feds search for permanent solution

The Hawleyville Road rail yard in Newtown, some 60 miles from Buchanan, has been used to receive truck shipments of low-level waste from Indian Point that have been sent by rail to a waste site in Andrews, Texas.

Other possible options include the Hopewell Railyard in Hopewell Junction, some 30 miles from Indian Point. It’s run by Metro-North Railroad but not connected to its commuter rail network.

Also included as possible rail links are Metro-North’s Croton-Harmon Railyard in Westchester County and Lower South Street in Peekskill.

All the routes would need to be approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees the movement of spent fuel across the nation’s highways.

Decommissioning funds for sports teams? Indian Point owner Holtec used $63K in ratepayer funds for sports teams, fashion show

What about barges to move Indian Point's spent fuel?

Indian Point, some 35 north of New York City, sits on 240 acres along the Hudson in the village of Buchanan. It was once the site of an amusement park where day travelers would come by boat from New York City.

To use barges, the Indian Point site would need to fortify a dock at a cost between $2 million and $6 million, the study notes. The area was used to deliver a massive transformer to the site in 2016.

The Energy Department report included barges is an option at 17 of the 20 sites it visited. Many of the nation’s nuclear plants were built beside lakes, rivers and oceans, which are used to discharge hot water from reactors or in emergencies to cool down reactors.

This is not the first time barges have been broached as an option for Indian Point’s fuel.

In 2020, the plant’s owners, New Jersey-based Holtec, said it was considering using a portion of $2.3 billion in decommissioning trust funds to move spent fuel by barge. Indian Point is among 17 nuclear power plants across the country that don’t have rail access.

And a 2002 Energy Department study of possible routes to an underground site at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain Indian Point fuel could be moved by barge down the Hudson to railyards in New Jersey for the trip west.

The proposal ignited an outcry from lawmakers in both states.

Attempts to use the Hudson for radioactive transport would likely run into opposition.

Last year, responding to concerns raised by the environmental group Riverkeeper and others, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that would prohibit the discharge of millions of gallons of radiological into the Hudson.

Holtec said the decision will delay the completion of decommissioning until 2041, eight years longer than its earlier estimate.

Radioactive: Hochul inks Indian Point bill but radiological waste debate rages on

What options are best? What the nuclear industry says

Nuclear energy proponents, including the Nuclear Energy Institute, say some 1,300 shipments of spent have been moved across the country by barge, truck and rail in hardened containers without a release of radioactive material.

“Trucks are commonly used for smaller shipments,” said Rod McCullum, a specialist in nuclear waste transport at the NEI. “Rail for larger shipments.  Fuel from the Navy’s nuclear-powered ships is routinely transferred from the ports in which the ships are refueled to inland storage facilities using both methods.”

Barges were used to move spent fuel from the Shoreham nuclear power plant on Long Island, the Limerick Plant in Pennsylvania and overseas in Sweden, France, Japan, and England.

 For now, with no place for the spent fuel to go, the Energy Department study remains mostly academic.

And, if a repository is chosen, it could take years to come up with a transportation plan.

Teardown: Why Indian Point nuclear plant won't close until 2041

What about the cost?

Nevada lawmakers opposed to the Yucca Mountain site used the transportation issue argue it wasn’t just just a Nevada problem, but one shared by all communities where the waste would pass through.

And there are still cost issues that haven’t been resolved, according to Fred Dilger, the executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, a state agency born out of opposition to Yucca Mountain.

“Although we are learning about the best way to move waste from the various sites, there is no clear idea about who will pay for needed infrastructure upgrades, how long it will take and when it will begin,” Dilger said. “Many nuclear power plant sites may need costly, time-consuming improvements to enable shipments to take place.”

A snarl in nuclear energy's potential comeback?

The debate comes at a time when the U.S. nuclear industry is on the cusp of what some have termed a nuclear renaissance.

Government officials in Michigan, California and elsewhere, faced with hard-to-achieve climate goals, are rethinking their views on nuclear power.

The Biden Administration says nuclear power should be a key piece of its strategy to rid the electric grid of carbon-spewing energy sources.

In Michigan, officials are considering restarting the shuttered Palisades Nuclear Power Plant. And in California, rolling blackouts caused state officials to pivot in 2022 and reconsider opening the state’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon.

Dilger said he’s unpersuaded by those who say the future lies in advanced nuclear options like small modular reactors that don’t produce the same amounts of spent fuel as traditional reactors.

“The recent boosterism about advanced nuclear wishes away the problem of waste,” Dilger said. “We already have more spent nuclear fuel than can fit in Yucca Mountain. Ideally, we should already be looking for a second repository and haven’t got the first. Advanced nuclear will make even more.”

Towns caught in the middle

Caught in the middle are communities that are home to shuttered nuclear power plants.

They’re dealing with the loss of property tax revenue from revenue-producing power plants, as well as canisters of spent nuclear fuel that makes redevelopment problematic.

The town of Vernon, Vermont, chose to scrap its police force in 2015 after the Vermont Yankee plant shut down in 2014, putting a strain on its $2 million budget. Police services were taken over by county sheriffs.

Fiscal planning helped the town weather the worst of it and Vernon’s tax rate is around the average for the region, said Tim Arsenault, the town clerk.

“Unfortunately, the whole issue right now is not in my backyard,” said Arsenault. “Nobody seems to want to have a depository for spent fuel. So, while some people may not like it, it’s there until something changes.”

Funds: Indian Point owner Holtec used $63K in ratepayer funds for sports teams, fashion show

Vermont Yankee, unlike Indian Point, has direct access to rail, which would be used to transport its containers of spent fuel.

Power plants owners have been able to recoup billions of dollars from the federal government as compensation for the failure to find a repository. A 2021 Government Accountability Office report pegged the total at $9 billion but that’s expected to grow in the coming years.

State and federal officials have passed measures to help towns where plants shut down. But Buchanan Mayor Theresa Knickerbocker said it’s not enough.

“It is time for the federal government to resolve this,” she said. “There was an agreement that was made. The nuclear communities did not agree to become de-facto storage facilities.”

Knickerbocker questions why nuclear plant owners are able to recoup their costs while towns can’t.

 “Holtec and others sue the DOE every few years to recoup their expenses,” she said. “Why isn't the host community compensated? Either find a home for the spent fuel or compensate the community until it is removed from the site.”