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Last week's topic: environmental accidents. We asked which you thought was worse: the Three Mile Island accident or the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Here's what some of you had to say...
You bet. There's no comparison. TMI didn't harm people or wildlife at all, it's only money. Valdez is not only money, it was a serious environmental problem. Dick King Both horrible yet somehow 3 mile Island seems the more prodoundly disturbing due to radioactive half lives and such as well as the propensity for disease, birth defects and the environmental harm. That event does not yield a technological fix in any way while Exxon Valdez while horrible mentally is slightly less over whelming.
Rob Bonner Three Mile Island is probably the worst example of not being told the truth about a disaster. I mean, it's a good example of why people don't trust the government to be honest. The Exxon Valdez is the worst example of science for sale. That is, you probably couldn't think up a worse case of scientists selling out to make a buck. So, in their own specials ways, each is the worst! And, isn't that heartening? Mike Pica It is my understanding that Three Mile Island was given the all-clear a few years ago and they were allowing people to move back into the area. In addition, I believe that the accident was as bad as it was first thought. However, the Exxon Valdez is the unwelcome gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving...and there is no returning it! The oil continues to kill wildlife and pollute the water and shoreline. I'm not sure how long it will continue to harm the environment, but the damage it has done is heartbreaking. Sue Handgen These types of catastrophies are all degrading to mankind in their own way. If had to choose one of these two, it would be the Valdez oil spill. Probably as I live on the west coast and have a deep appreciation for the wilderness. Puck It would seem to me that the Valdez fiasco was worse, because it is a symptom of our reliance on the non-renewable fossil-fuels, with their combustion problems, and God only knows what long term effects on the climate. I believe that nuclear energy can be managed in a safe manner, with breeder reactors, to have far less environmental impact than the fossil fuels. If widely used for transportation, as in going from Amsterdam to Vladivostok by electric train, we could tell the Arabs where to put their oil, and use fully renewable bio-mass, wind, and hydro power to complete self sufficiency. Why not, Mr. Politician, why don't you put the interest of the country first? Frank Jardon How can you say that one was worse than the other? 3 mile island has produced toxic waste that will be with us for generations. It is hard to say just how much immediate damage was done, since there was no accurate measurement of th amount of radiation released. On the other hand, the Exxon Valdez clearly caused a great deal of immediate damage, which is continuing, although how long the environment will take to recover is open to question. Exxon Valdez was more clearly detrimental to the lives of the locals in terms of destroying their livelyhoods. TMI may in the end turn out to have been more detrimental to their health. They were both disastrous, and, I hope, a wake-up call to those in positions of authority, though I doubt it. A Carter The Valdez oil spill, although it is also transient in its effects. We should be promoting nuclear energy, as burning fossil fuels have killed far more people than nuclear accidents. To do without either fossil fuels or nuclear energy is not realistic. Scott McKee I feel the Valdez spill was worse. Three Mile was scary, and could have been a lot worse, but it was contained. Valdez was not. Valdez killed many animals like birds, seals and ocean life. It also contaminated many miles of shoreline. The way Three Mile happen, it didn't destroy anything outside of the reactor. Thank God. Mike Godwin three mile island since it shut down the nuke power industry in this country. Your question reminds me of the joke, "What's the difference between a computer salesman and a used car salesman? The Used car salesman knows when he's lying." The engineers at three mile Island didn't have a clue as to what was happening. The Lawyers at Exxon knew exactly what was happening. I personally feel that the loss of interest in nuclear power plants will have greatest negative impact on our ecology. Howard R. Hoyt The exxon spill in my opion is much worse. All the species that were harmed and are still effected is incredible.
Brett Wise Obviously the oil spill from the Exon Valdez was a much bigger environmental catastrophe. TMI has not left nearly the damage that the oil spill did. Obviously the Valdez, since it actually damaged something besides the industrial hardware. It's debatable whether the release from TMI were bad enough to actually hurt anyone. At the time of the TMI accident, people were primed for it by the activities of anti-nuclear activists, hence the panic, and the front page newspaper stories that ran on for days. Industrial accidents happen now and then, without any lasting damage to the industry in the opinion of the public (remember the time that a train wreck or a freight train carrying tanks of Chlorine gas killed about a dozen people? No one else does either). There are industries with safety records far worse than nuclear power -- we might consider coal power, which produces enough pollution to kill thousands of people every year, in the course of it's normal operation. Think about that for a minute... coal power is like having a Chernobyl every year, and we now build coal plants in preference to nukes. As people become more concerned with global warming, nuclear power is going to start looking better and better. Joe Brenner Neither Three Mile Island nor Exxon were environmental disasters. They were unfortunate accidents, but nothing more. No one died or suffered significant injury from 3-mile island, and it is generally agreed that the cleanup at the spill did more damage than the oil. Both incidents were feeding frenzies for the media, the environmentalist, and the politicians. Exxon Val. would never have happened if the "bird-huggers" had not blocked the erection of a new ship control radar. We used to comment that more people died at Chapaquitic Bridge (spelling??) than at 3-mile Is. Programs like yours can help to keep a proper perspective. No man-made environmental mishap is anything like the stunts mother nature pulls. Just compare a major earthquake, Forrest fire, or even a good-size local hurricane, to the damage we cause, and you have to appreciate how insignificant man's transgressions are. Hugo Freudenthal TMI accident - hurt people, animals as well as environment. However, this is an inappropriate comparison. I am sure you will get more votes for the oil spill being more serious as your program on TMI completely minimized the environmental impact of the TMI accident. Marjorie Aamodt | |
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