Do you live in this community? My guess is no. And that’s the crux of the issue, though the article buries the lede somewhat.
Right do you live in a community that loses mountains to coal mining? That loses the coast to sea level rise? That has a nuclear facility in their back yard? There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
I live near a nuke plant. It pollutes about as much as my BBQ grill. It's quiet, the birds like it, and the fishing in the adjacent lake is excellent. Some people don't like its shape but I'm used to it and the steam rising is kind of charming.
Thus begin the challenges of ramping up distributed low-density intermittent energy harvesting by a factor of 40x.
Destroying a virgin desert ecosystem with an industrial installation is not little environmental impact.
Lighting the atmosphere on fire is not a little environmental impact either. We have to choose to loose something to live a modern lifestyle.