US Navy in outer space?

While listening to the radia recently, a obscure report came up. According to the Minnesota Public Radio, the US Navy is going to attempt to shoot down a faulty satelitte from outer space. The reason for the aggressive decision is that the satelitte has a full tank of potentially deadly fluids. The amount of fuel that the satelitte has could effect an area over about two football feilds. The Navy is planning on shooting it down when it reaches about 150 miles from the earths surface.

My initial reaction to this decision by the United States Government was really just shock. Though the devastation the satelitte could cause would be a terrible catastrophe, isn't shooting it with a missile just as much of a risk? If the Navy shoots and misses, it is being reported that it will be a complete waste of 40 to 60 million dollars. Isn't the federal government in enough debt to use it on a faulty missile? According to NASA officials the satelitte will come down naturally in early March, but wouldnt our atmosphere destory it in the process anyway? If the missile scores a dead on hit, the problem is solved. If it sort of hits it ( I am not really sure how a Missile can sort of hit something, don't they blow up?) then the situation is just sped up and the satelitte will enter the atmosphere quicker. If there is a miss, nothing changes and the satelitte comes down anyway.

Now, I am not saying that the government shouldn't be trying to find a way to stop this satellite from crashing into lets say New York City, but isn't very likely there is some way NASA could have this land in the ocean somewhere? The world is covered in massive oceans, and with the United States amazing technology, is it not possible?

I suppose the idea to shoot it out of the sky is in a way cool, and I can see why everyone would think it is a good way to solve the issue. But seriously, this is the United States, our technology is simply ridiculous, is there not another way? One that does not involve so many risks?