Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant Wastewater
Conversation is brewing throughout New York, as the Indian Point nuclear power plant is planning on discharging a million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Hudson River this coming August. Holtec International is the company that is leading this operation, and they have been dumping water into the Hudson River for over 50 years. Environmental groups and average citizens are extremely concerned that this could have detrimental environmental effects and negative health effects on people. Dumping Nuclear waste into the Hudson River does not have any positive effects, only negative, and there needs to be a bill passed that outlaws dumping waste into New York state bodies of water.
If Indian Point carries through on their plan to dump their toxic waste water into the Hudson River, there will be significant, economic, safety, and health risks. The contamination would be very likely to contaminate the animals living in the river, and us people eat fish that comes out of the Hudson River. Eating intoxicated water life could lead to a number of serious health problems. Many different cities and towns in New York rely on the Hudson River for drinking water, and if toxic waste is dumped into the river, it would make it extremely unsafe to drink. Also, toxic water would deter people from moving to nearby communities. Overall, the effects of dumping toxic water into the Hudson River would be detrimental to our health, economy, and safety.
Holtec International is the company responsible for carrying out this plan, and nearly everybody opposes it. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have signed petitions opposing the plan, many different boards of legislators vehemently oppose it, and even senators and people of high government positions oppose it. The most viable solution to this problem would be for the state to create a mandate that prohibits dumping any toxic waste into state bodies of water. If there was a major punishment for dumping waste into the Hudson River, it would prevent Holtec International from doing it, and any other companies that are also tempted to do it.
I think that the title is relevant as it is very straight forward, however I think you could alter it so it can draw the audience a bit more. For your thesis, I do like that you mention what the policy will do, but I think that it will be beneficial to mention some of the negative effects that will come from the dumping just to make your thesis stronger. For your evidence, I think that you do a good job of giving examples, but I feel as though adding more evidence such as statistics to back up the health affects that can come so it hits home a bit more. Also, you mention that this would affect health, economy, and safety but really only go into detail on the health aspect so it would definitely be beneficial to discuss all of the harms in detail. For your policy, it is a good idea but I think that you need to add more detail onto the fine matters that come with it, such as the costs, etc. You do have a good case as it is an important matter that needs to be addressed, but just adding more details would definitely help your case.
I think this a very important issue to write about, so I like the topic! As someone who is ignorant about the whole situation, one thing I would ask is how this company is allowed to dump this waste in the first place. I would assume there is some sort of laws preventing this exact scenario already, so I’d see if there’s anything that you can write about for that as well, and if there isn’t you could see why there isn’t already and expand on why it’s still problematic.