I was in middle school in Western New York during the Three Mile Island accident — the most serious nuclear accident in American history. Even from 200 miles away, my parents were glued to the news, and at our Catholic School we prayed for the safety of our Pennsylvania neighbors.
After Three Mile Island there were months of congressional hearings on nuclear safety. Where is the congressional oversight now (“US is reviving shuttered nuclear plants to meet growing electricity demand and to power data centers,” Online, Oct. 16)? Why are we starting to slip down the nuclear path again, solely to benefit data center tycoons?
The least we can do is ask our members of Congress to put in some basic regulations on data centers and energy. There are several bills in Congress now that would help — H.R. 6983 would require large data centers to generate their own electricity and transition to 100% clean energy; and H.R. 6984 and S. 5640 would require reporting on data centers’ air, water, and energy use. Our Massachusetts delegation, especially Representative Katherine Clark, Democratic minority whip, and Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren should be working for us to support these bills.
Or we can wait until after the data center moguls have led us into another disaster — and then we will just have to pray.
Mary Memmott
Framingham