This NY Times piece has me scratching my head:
In a major victory for environmental advocates, New York State has ruled that outmoded cooling technology at the Indian Point nuclear power plant kills so many Hudson River fish, and consumes and contaminates so much water, that it violates the federal Clean Water Act.
The decision is a blow to the plant’s owner, the Entergy Corporation, which now faces the prospect of having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build stadium-size cooling towers, or risk that Indian Point’s two operating reactors — which supply 30 percent of the electricity used by New York City and Westchester County — could be forced to shut down.
Why is that a victory for environmentalists? If you have to turn it into a winners v. losers piece instead of just reporting that the state has ruled against the Indian Point nuclear plant, shouldn’t the accurate way to look at this be not a victory for environmentalists, but a victory for everyone who lives, breathes, eats, and drinks water? When the government shuts down polluters, it is a victory for all of us. That is why we band together, have government, and have rules and regulations to protect our water and natural resources.
This is one area I have never understood Republicans or libertarians. Left alone, these people are POISONING YOU. The government is trying to stop that, or at least slow it down. They are slowing down the rate that companies pour toxins into the water you and your kids drink. You’d think that would upset them. I understand the need for jobs and electricity, I really do. I understand that is important. But not being poisoned and not having cancer are also important.