Last Monday a young lady was walking my neighborhood with a petition in hand. The cause was to protect aquatic life in New England rivers and also to raise some money to support their operations. The petition, was addressed to our public leaders urging them to force New England's nuclear power plants to comply with the Clean Water Act. The closest culprit to us being the Indian River Nuclear Power plant in Westchester county, see photo and reference link below.The Energy companies are charged (by the environmentalists) with killing thousands of fish each year. They claim that the fish get sucked into the cooling system of the power plants. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has agreed that the energy companies are in violation of the legal mandate under the the Federal Law.
The environmentalists have touted that an upgrade of more modern cooling technology is needed to protect the fish, as it stands an 80+ million dollar a year industry is at stake. The power plants have argued that the upgrades will cost in excess of 400 Million dollars, a cost that under the current conditions is prohibitive.
The case has gone to court, and is still in a litigious and hotly debated battle between the consumers of the electric who wish not to have their rates increased, the environmentalists who demand legal compliance and the energy companies who find it too challenging to meet the financial obligation of the upgrade.
Connecticut has two Nuclear Power Plants One is Connecticut Yankee (Decommissioned), the other is Millstone Nuclear, also being decommissioned.
The following link is to an article that references some historical facts on this issue. Click HERE for article.
Photo Above: Hyperspectral image showing thermal plumes from Indian Point and Lovett (Geophysical & Environmental Research Corp,1988
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