Despite Skepticism, The Environment Is Getting Its Due

Opinion polls following the so-called climate-email-gate fracas reflected a growing skepticism in America about the state of the environment. Despite the overwhelming evidence, too many people want to latch on to red herrings that "prove" there's nothing to worry about as we pollute ourselves into oblivion. As long as the doubt, denial and lack of responsibility exists, we will continue to end up with less than adequate international frameworks such as what happened in Copenhagen last year.

With that said, there are glimmers of hope. Since the Obama Administration took over, the E.P.A. has become much more friendly towards environmental groups. The N.R.D.C. for example, is finding willing partners in the Executive bureaucracy instead of the adversaries that held their posts during the Bush era.

The E.P.A. is showing some muscle, by utilizing the Clean Water Act in order to regulate carbon dioxide emissions:

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is exploring whether to use the Clean Water Act to control greenhouse gas emissions, which are turning the oceans acidic at a rate that's alarmed some scientists.

With climate change legislation stalled in Congress, the Clean Water Act would serve as a second front, as the Obama administration has sought to use the Clean Air Act to rein in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases administratively.

Since the dawn of the industrial age, acid levels in the oceans have increased 30 percent. Currently, the oceans are absorbing 22 million tons of carbon dioxide a day.

Among other things, scientists worry that the increase in acidity could interrupt the delicate marine food chain, which ranges from microscopic plankton to whales.

While nothing is going to happen until at least November (to allow for a public comment period and other research), it is a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile here in New York, environmental advocates scored a huge victory last week along a similar route in regards to the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. With so many inherent dangers at Indian Point, it is heartening to see that the judicial system can recognize at least one of the harmful effects of outdated and unsafe nuclear power. Water is the most precious of all resources, and we as a society must realize and respect that fact.

While President Obama may tout nuclear energy alongside renewables, it is imperative to fight for the cleaner alternatives regardless. If the utilization of the Clean Water Act is what does the trick, then that is a strategy the left must lean on more heavily going forward.

Yet Another Reason To Close Indian Point

Environmental groups have been trying to shut down the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant for years and really, even before it was built. It was a bad idea then, it is still a bad idea now. The fact that a nuclear reactor sits only twenty-five miles from the largest city in the United States is scary to say the least. The history of the plant should have been enough to close all the reactors at the site, yet it continues to be a silent plague upon the tri-state area. And now we have another moment to add to that history.

From The NY Times:

A one-and-a-half-inch hole caused by corrosion allowed about 100,000 gallons of water to escape from the main system that keeps the reactor cool immediately after any shutdown, according to nuclear experts. The leak was discovered on Feb. 16, according to the plant’s owner, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, a subsidiary of the Entergy Corporation.

Entergy and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission emphasized that the Indian Point reactor could still have been shut down safely with either of two other backup systems, although operators generally avoid using both.

They also stressed that the supply pipe was quickly repaired after the leak was found and that the water itself, which is cleaner than tap water, posed no environmental threat. Yet the leak’s discovery has prompted Entergy and the regulatory commission to begin studying how the chief system for cooling during shutdowns, so important that the Indian Point 2 has three pumps in place to do the same job, could be endangered by the failure of a single part.

Of course Entergy is going to say that this is no big deal. Power is expensive and when you are the one selling it, it is obvious you'll do anything to keep that sale going. That is especially so when you have morality that keeps a nuclear reactor running so close to a major population center like New York City.

What needs to happen here is one thing, and one thing only. Just shut it down. The state can do it if they have the spine to stand up to Entergy.