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Comment by josefresco | Hacker News Reader

This is a great example of why the US doesn't want manufacturing "back" even if they/we could have it. Both because this example isn't that big of a deal (but yet, has created controversy), and because if this was a big deal Americans simply would not tolerate the pollution, in exchange for the manufacturing jobs.

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As other posters pointed out this is less than 3 Olympic sized swimming pools. They will also return less than 2 Olympic sized pools back to the lake.

Exactly, and there's "outrage". Imagine if it was 100 Olympic size swimming pools... The American public can't handle the biproducts of modern manufacturing.

There are multiple "American publics". The outrage machine will not like it, you are correct, but take a drive through Nevada or West Virginia and you'll see folks used to such side effects.

True, I shouldn't make the assumption that "the public" is one thing, or another in absolute terms. However, I wouldn't call it an "outrage machine" just because people are concerned about pollution/misuse of natural resources.

Clarification: the outrage machine does exist as a phenomenon in American politics. It's real.

I agree that stewardship of the environment is very important.

How much water did Boeing use during the 747s production heyday? Trying to think of a recent US manufacturing example that was truely massive.

As the say, you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Except you often can. Acid rain regulation didn't end up costing all that much.

Happens all the time that technical improvements result in cleaner processes.

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