Letters to the Editor: 02.13.97

Clear Warning

Manorville

February 3, 1997

Dear Editor:

The latest report of excessively high levels of radioactive tritium found at Brookhaven National Laboratory is a clear warning that nuclear reactors don't belong on top of one's drinking water supply. Even the strongest of pro-nuclear advocates will have to agree that the lab's nuclear reactors must be permanently closed and, at a minimum, moved off Long Island.

Long Islanders have fought for years to protect our drinking water, and the lab's nuclear reactors are a direct threat to our sole source aquifer. It was clearly a mistake to locate this radioactive, toxic chemical-polluting lab in the heart of the pine barrens atop our drinking water supply.

A polluting Brookhaven Lab is also a threat to our local economy. A recent report by William J. Weida of the Global Resources Action Center for the Environment states that while Brookhaven Lab has a large economic impact, it is not as large as the impact of the marine, tourism, and recreation industries of the Peconic-Gardiner's Bay ecosystem.

The challenge now is to convert Brookhaven Lab from a radioactive, toxic chemical polluter to a laboratory which is an asset to our local economy and environment.

Sincerely,

PETE MANISCALCO

Snake Oil

East Hampton

February 3, 1997

Dear Editor:

Regarding the proposed radio tower site off Route 114 near Cove Hollow Road:

I'm going to need excellent cell phone reception to call 911 soon after the tower is built. You see, if you spend any time near that location, you'll soon learn that airplanes about to land at the East Hampton Airport pass right through that air space.

The way I've got it figured, one of these planes comes in a little low, clips the tower, falls onto the railroad tracks, and gets knocked into the Long Island Lighting Company substation by the 6:05 from Patchogue.

The modern-day snake-oil salesmen who told the Planning Board this site should be acceptable are about as believable as the corporate shill who wanted us to know we needed a fancy new supermarket in order to get fresher seafood.

Perhaps the best place for this tower would be right next to the new A&P . . . in the circular file.

But wait! Maybe Martha Stewart could design a tower to look like an osprey nest, and have it on her property. I'm told she'd like a nest on her Georgica Pond property and NYNEX wants a tower near the pond. A match made in corporate heaven!

Ahhh . . . life in the country!

Regards,

TOM MacNIVEN

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