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Ethical intuitionism might side with either position according to the sort of moral maxims brought forward, and how they are popularly received.

Utilitarianism would be forced to focus on the general happiness. But whose happiness? Will it be the happiness of the county? Will it be the happiness of the state? Will it be the happiness of the country? Will it be the happiness of the world? And once this is determined, then the subsequent question is what is the time frame? Are we talking about 3 years, 30 years, or 300 years? The answer to the utilitarian calculation may be different according to how one parses the population to be examined and how one understands the relevant time frame. Under most of these scenarios (given a time frame of at least 50 years and a scope that covers the wind dispersement of a majority of the pollutants and heavy metal contaminants) the risks will outweigh the benefits (even for the county involved). Therefore, utilitarianism will reject the building of the power plant.