A letter to Senator Connors on behalf of baymen, recreational fishermen, boaters, marina owners, swimmers, kayakers, canoeists, crabbers, sailors, small business owners, and all who love Barnegat Bay.

11 December 2009

Hon. Chris Connors
620 West Lacey Road
Forked River, NJ 08738

Dear Senator Connors,

I am writing to express to you again how urgent it is that cooling towers be required at Oyster Creek.

Each and every day, the obsolete cooling system at Oyster Creek strains 1.7 billion gallons of Barnegat Bay water. Since Barnegat Bay only contains 60 billion gallons in total, this is 2.8% of the volume of Barnegat Bay strained of life every day. That is over 1,000% of the volume of Barnegat Bay per year.

The current cooling system is devastating the ecology of Barnegat Bay. All scientists agree that the Bay is in an extreme crisis.

Barnegat Bay is not only the largest body of water in the State of New Jersey, it is the largest body of water in your legislative district.

There is no economic necessity whatever for voting against cooling towers. Oyster Creek is a profitable facility. Exelon is in superb financial condition. Building towers will not even come close making the plant uneconomical. This fact is elaborated at length on our website http://www.savebarnegatbay.org.

In an imaginary world in which requiring cooling towers would close the plant, your vote against cooling towers would still be a vote against every bayman, every recreational fisherman, every marina operator, every small business owner, and every tourism related industry in Ocean County.

The citizens of Ocean County urgently require – both morally and financially — your active participation in restoring Barnegat Bay to health.

Sincerely,

William deCamp Jr.