Could they? Let's assume the real and scientifically accurate answer was "No, we have to burn the planet for the benefit of MILLIONS of people"? (Which is how it is presented in the movie. Isn't it?)
I mean, maybe the answer IS "No. The Ba'ku stay where they are. No matter the consequence." Maybe they get their own Maquis. I suppose Picard was their Maquis. Wow, he fared better than Eddington. (Look at me, throwing around the Deep Space Nine knowledge!)
So maybe it ain't so bad a movie, since we're still discussing the central conundrum.
Per the transcript, it's not certain if it's "necessary" to fry the planet, but the method the Son'a have chosen to use would poison it. Supposedly, the Federation's best minds couldn't come up with another way... really? It's Dougherty who pleads for the billions that might be helped, but eventually admits the rush is because the Son'a won't survive much longer. How many Son'a are there? More or less than 600? We don't get told.
DOUGHERTY: Jean-Luc, there are six hundred people down there. We'll be able to use the regenerative properties of this radiation to help billions. ...The Son'a have developed a procedure to collect the metaphasic particles from the planets rings.
PICARD: A planet in Federation space.
DOUGHERTY: That's right. We have the planet. They have the technology. ...A technology we can't duplicate. You know what that makes us? ...Partners.
PICARD: Our partners are nothing more than petty thugs.
DOUGHERTY: On Earth, petroleum once turned petty thugs into world leaders. Warp drive transformed a bunch of Romulan thugs into an Empire. We can handle the Son'a. I'm not worried about that.
PICARD: Someone probably said the same thing about the Romulans a century ago.
DOUGHERTY: With metaphasics, life spans will be doubled. ...An entire new medical science will evolve. I understand your Chief Engineer has the use of his eyes for the first time in his life. ...Would you take that away from him?
PICARD: There are metaphasic particles all over the Briar Patch. Why does it have to be this planet?
DOUGHERTY: It's the concentration in the rings that makes the whole damned thing work. Don't ask me to explain it. I only know they inject something into the rings that starts a thermolytic reaction. When it's over, the planet will be uninhabitable for generations.
PICARD: Admiral, delay the procedure. Let my people look at the technology.
DOUGHERTY: Our best scientific minds already have. We can't find any other way to do this.
PICARD: Then the Son'a can establish a separate colony on this planet until we do.
DOUGHERTY: It would take ten years of normal exposure to begin to reverse their condition. Some of them won't survive that long. Besides, they don't want to live in the middle of the Briar Patch. ...Who would?
It's a fairly good ethical quandary, but could have been executed better, as many folks have already discussed.
I'm willing to put up with every inconsistency from Christine Chapel (um, has that name always rhymed with Sistine Chapel and 50+ years later I'm just noticing it?)
FWIW, I didn't see Kirk as particularly impulsive in the episode. Less experienced than we're used to, yes. And Pike was busy trying to figure out the ramifications for his future, so he was second-guessing everything. But I found it a good episode that riffed off what we already knew in an interesting way.
