122101 We Must not let emotions govern our actions with Indian Point

To the Editor:

Congratulations oil your reporting of two sides of the controversy regarding the Indian Point nuclear plant.

The Bedford Central School Board supports the temporary shutdown of the plant. I do not agree, but must take issue with the reason Joe Whelan gave for the lone dissenting vote - that the matter is "beyond his expertise." It is also beyond my expertise, despite earning a master's degree in engineering. Because the decision is essentially a political one, it is incumbent on all of us to study the problem and to reach our own conclusions.

The article concerning an interview with the Entergy communications  manager, James Streets presents the arguments pro and con. It seems obvious that a temporary shutdown offers no solution to the dangers, but only increases the pressures on the company and on government do the things that most agree should be done in any case.

Those who favor conversion of the plant to gas seem to be following the long prevalent tine in Westchester to accelerate our contribution to "global warming." Witness the county's well intentioned efforts which result in the discharge of carbon to the atmosphere, rather than to return it to the earth. Simply stated, the greenhouse gas problem is the result of our removing carbon (coal, oil, gas, limestone) from the earth faster than the natural carbon cycle replaces it. Carbon in the form of garbage, septic discharges, waste paper, plastics, waste wood, leaves and chips, etc., offer an opportunity to return carbon to the earth whence it came. Instead, Westchester burns garbage in Peekskill, converts methane to carbon dioxide at the Yonkers waste treatment plant, collects carbon in the form of waste paper and recycles it, and prepares huge piles of mulch where decay causes the release of carbon to the air.

We live in a dangerous world. Emotions should not govern our actions on such critical matters. Our fears should not lead us to solve imagined problems at the expense of real dangers.

Walter D McVicar Bedford