[GRRN] NIMBY

From: RecycleWorlds (anderson@msn.fullfeed.com)
Date: Tue Sep 26 2000 - 12:05:31 EDT

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         Companies seeking to construct large, polluting plants
     often dismiss local opposition
     is NIMBY (not in my backyard), as if that is sufficient by itself to
     establish that no weight ought
     to be attached to the complaints.

         The September 18, 2000 Wall Street Journal shows a
     different side to this issue. The
     article ("Cisco Opposes Plan for New Power Plant") reports
     that Calpine (a major
     independent power generation company) planned to build a
     badly needed gas fired power
     plant in rural Coyete Valley near San Jose...and Cisco
     Systems, which is producing
     backbone equipment for all those computer systems which are
     one of the significant sources
     demanding new power plants. Cisco Systems opposed the plant,
     which is akin to General
     Motors fighting an oil refinery, observers note.

         The reason why this is such a rare occurrence, of course,
     is that most of the time,
     these facilities are never proposed to be sited in the first
     place in or near wealthy
     communities or near headquarters of major
     corporations in the first place.

         I mention this because, NIMBY really, then, is not a
     pejorative, but rather is a symptom of the pervasive
     and inherent unfairness and ruthlessness of our so-called civilization. It is a tacit
    acknowledgement that no one who reaps the benefits wants to be near the effluvia of a
    modern economy. It is only the fact that we have typically been able to site these
    plants somewhere else
     (i.e. near those without the political clout to successfully oppose them) that keeps the
     gears of our economy greased.

         Bopal nothing!



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