Some Meat Missing From Spitzer v. Suozzi Debate Bone
There are two environmental issues that both candidates for NYS Governor are barely, if at all, discussing.
1) Agriculture is NY State's number one industry. Why no discussion of the rise of huge factory farms (called CAFO's Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) upstate? These monstrous facilities create massive amounts of animal waste, often contained in unsafe lagoons, Remember all the shit that poured into the Black River near Watertown last year? The Marks Dairy Farm near Lowville spilled 3 million gallons of liquid cow manure into the river. The DEC is not effectively policing these manifestly unstable containment units.
The Friends of Rural New York blog had a disturbing, and as yet, still unanswered thought: the Southern Tier flooding that blocked access to many dairy farms for collection of milk may also have compromised MANY manure containment lagoons.
2) Energy production. While the Con Ed mess in Queens is pointing out the shortcomings of NYC's energy distribution system, the overarching question for downstate residents is their rapidly increasing demand for more power. If, as some estimate, NYC demand for power outstrips the supply, the economic engine of NYC business--high tech, financial etc. will also be compromised. This is where NYRI comes in. The plan to transfer "excess" upstate energy to downstate residents by constructing a huge series of high voltage transfer towers is obviously very controversial to the towns it will rip through.
The solution of opponents to NYRI is for the NYC area to produce more of its own power. As the New York Times recently pointed out in a article entitled "Ther Nuclear Option", building new nuclear plants and expanding old ones has gained credibility, even with erstwhile environmentalists. Nuclear power, despite the threat of terrorist attacks on plants and the need to store toxic waste for over 10,000 years, is being seen as a "clean" alternative to fossil fuels.
How are we going to deal with these often contradictory problems? If Eliot Spitzer, who has come out against both NYRI and the extension of the Indian Point nuclear plant near NYC, is elected governor which promise gets broken first? Or is there another way out of the dilemma through alternative technology or demand reduction?
1) Agriculture is NY State's number one industry. Why no discussion of the rise of huge factory farms (called CAFO's Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) upstate? These monstrous facilities create massive amounts of animal waste, often contained in unsafe lagoons, Remember all the shit that poured into the Black River near Watertown last year? The Marks Dairy Farm near Lowville spilled 3 million gallons of liquid cow manure into the river. The DEC is not effectively policing these manifestly unstable containment units.
The Friends of Rural New York blog had a disturbing, and as yet, still unanswered thought: the Southern Tier flooding that blocked access to many dairy farms for collection of milk may also have compromised MANY manure containment lagoons.
2) Energy production. While the Con Ed mess in Queens is pointing out the shortcomings of NYC's energy distribution system, the overarching question for downstate residents is their rapidly increasing demand for more power. If, as some estimate, NYC demand for power outstrips the supply, the economic engine of NYC business--high tech, financial etc. will also be compromised. This is where NYRI comes in. The plan to transfer "excess" upstate energy to downstate residents by constructing a huge series of high voltage transfer towers is obviously very controversial to the towns it will rip through.
The solution of opponents to NYRI is for the NYC area to produce more of its own power. As the New York Times recently pointed out in a article entitled "Ther Nuclear Option", building new nuclear plants and expanding old ones has gained credibility, even with erstwhile environmentalists. Nuclear power, despite the threat of terrorist attacks on plants and the need to store toxic waste for over 10,000 years, is being seen as a "clean" alternative to fossil fuels.
How are we going to deal with these often contradictory problems? If Eliot Spitzer, who has come out against both NYRI and the extension of the Indian Point nuclear plant near NYC, is elected governor which promise gets broken first? Or is there another way out of the dilemma through alternative technology or demand reduction?
