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Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case

Initially, regulation of cooling water intakes under §316(b) was extremely conservative due to the rapid increase predicted for generating capacity, and to the uncertainty associated with our knowledge of the effects of entrainment and impingement. The uncertainty arose from four main sources: estim...

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Autores principales: Young, John R., Dey, William P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: TheScientificWorldJOURNAL 2002
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6009443/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12805977
http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2002.198
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author Young, John R.
Dey, William P.
author_facet Young, John R.
Dey, William P.
author_sort Young, John R.
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description Initially, regulation of cooling water intakes under §316(b) was extremely conservative due to the rapid increase predicted for generating capacity, and to the uncertainty associated with our knowledge of the effects of entrainment and impingement. The uncertainty arose from four main sources: estimation of direct plant effects; understanding of population regulatory processes; measurement of population parameters; and predictability of future conditions. Over the last quarter-century, the uncertainty from the first three sources has been substan-tially reduced, and analytical techniques exist to deal with the fourth. In addition, the dire predictions initially made for some water bodies have not been realized, demonstrating that populations can successfully withstand power plant impacts. This reduced uncertainty has resulted in less conservative regulation in some, but not all venues. New York appears to be taking a more conservative approach to cooling water intakes. The conservative approach is not based on regulations, but in a philosophy that power plant mortality is an illegitimate use of the aquatic resources. This philosophy may simplify permitting decisions, but it does not further the development of a science-based definition of adverse environmental impact.
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spelling pubmed-60094432018-07-04 Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case Young, John R. Dey, William P. ScientificWorldJournal Research Article Initially, regulation of cooling water intakes under §316(b) was extremely conservative due to the rapid increase predicted for generating capacity, and to the uncertainty associated with our knowledge of the effects of entrainment and impingement. The uncertainty arose from four main sources: estimation of direct plant effects; understanding of population regulatory processes; measurement of population parameters; and predictability of future conditions. Over the last quarter-century, the uncertainty from the first three sources has been substan-tially reduced, and analytical techniques exist to deal with the fourth. In addition, the dire predictions initially made for some water bodies have not been realized, demonstrating that populations can successfully withstand power plant impacts. This reduced uncertainty has resulted in less conservative regulation in some, but not all venues. New York appears to be taking a more conservative approach to cooling water intakes. The conservative approach is not based on regulations, but in a philosophy that power plant mortality is an illegitimate use of the aquatic resources. This philosophy may simplify permitting decisions, but it does not further the development of a science-based definition of adverse environmental impact. TheScientificWorldJOURNAL 2002-03-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6009443/ /pubmed/12805977 http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2002.198 Text en Copyright © 2002 John R. Young and William P. Dey. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Young, John R.
Dey, William P.
Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case
title Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case
title_full Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case
title_fullStr Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case
title_full_unstemmed Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case
title_short Uncertainty and Conservatism in Assessing Environmental Impact under §316(b): Lessons from the Hudson River Case
title_sort uncertainty and conservatism in assessing environmental impact under §316(b): lessons from the hudson river case
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6009443/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12805977
http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2002.198
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