epa goof

[charlie knighton]

I have seen the pictures of mining goof....release of waste water into river.....

I have seen the Colorado river at moab, Utah.....even driven down road beside Colorado for about 15 miles.......my question is what is river bad waste and what is normal sediment......that river is not normally yellow.....it is normally brown.....still lliquid not syrup

how would anyone clean up a river that carries that much sediment???????

[Larry Edgerton]

Time......

Some day the humans will be all gone and the river can take care of itself. It may actually flow all the way to the ocean again!

[David Ragan]

One of the issues with mining, is the tailings.

All those heavy metals that are liberated from being bound up in the deeper layers, if not handled properly.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2800070/

The above is about a mine in Korea.

A side note: there is a two lane country blacktop road around these parts. A small house on the road has a garden in the front yard, about 20 feet from the road. The runoff from the road slopes into their yard/garden. Never did understand that one.

[Chuck Wintle]

I am convinced that we humans are doing their utmost to poison themselves despite such agencies as the EPA and other.

[Mark Blatter]

I have seen the pictures of mining goof....release of waste water into river.....

I have seen the Colorado river at moab, Utah.....even driven down road beside Colorado for about 15 miles.......my question is what is river bad waste and what is normal sediment......that river is not normally yellow.....it is normally brown.....still lliquid not syrup

how would anyone clean up a river that carries that much sediment???????

You don't clean it up. It either gets washed all the way to the ocean or as far as the water lasts, or it settles out and ends up on the bottom/sand bars, etc. There is no way to un-ring the bell.

[Bert Kemp]

Theres a great show I watch on netflix I think its NOVA SHOW called Surviving Progress .really hits home as to how we are destroying the planet. its a must see

I am convinced that we humans are doing their utmost to poison themselves despite such agencies as the EPA and other.

[Chuck Wintle]

Theres a great show I watch on netflix I think its NOVA SHOW called Surviving Progress .really hits home as to how we are destroying the planet. its a must see

one thing that really stuck in my mind was the love canal chemical dump. How can we pass this earth of to the next generations if we continue to poison the environment as was the case here?

[Dok Yager]

Having grown up in Colorado and been all over the state. And I have stood at the confluence of almost every river in the state at one time or another. This sickens me to No end! The long term effects of all these heavy metals will be Egregious to say the least. They will settle in the river beds and all the sandbars and continue to pollute for decades to come. Kill the fish and wildlife that use the river as well as humans that raft, wade, paddle or any other activity. And pollute the water supplies of Many towns, farms, lakes,and aquifers for decades. This is the EPA legacy we pass on to our children and their childrens, children.

[Greg Peterson]

Why don't we hold those accountable that created this mess rather than those that erred in the cleanup?
Seems to me we're blaming the wrong folks here.
Wait till Hanford, WA let's lose. Now that will be a legacy.

[Steve Peterson]

I am convinced that we humans are doing their utmost to poison themselves despite such agencies as the EPA and other.

I think it will take long time to poison everyone on the planet. Humans (and all other animals) are incredibly resilient. Just look at a longtime smoker and think about the amount of pollutants that were put through their lungs. Some of them start as teenagers and live into their 70's.

I do agree that we are doing a lot to poison the planet. Burning 32 billion barrels of oil per year is not good.

Steve

[Val Kosmider]

Why don't we hold those accountable that created this mess rather than those that erred in the cleanup?
Seems to me we're blaming the wrong folks here.
.

Welcome to the saga of the great Hudson River.

General Electric dumped all sorts of obnoxious stuff in there for many years--enough such that swimming was discouraged and eating the fish was a no-no.

After years of fighting, the "courts" finally found them liable and ordered them to clean it up.

Probably been a decade or more, they have done a little of the necessary work, and are still arguing about it. The fact that they single handedly destroyed an enormous body of water just elicits a shrug and an argument that "time will heal it."

[Malcolm McLeod]

We forget that if humans didn't mine it, the river would. The EPA did in a day what the river itself would have done in 10,000 yrs (at least that's what one expert said the Colorado river took to dig the Grand Canyon). Kind of like we forget that all the fossil fuels were at one time - - non-fossil (aka critters & plants).

We live in an age of specialization. We are artists, or craftsman, or IT managers because one farmer can feed 200 people. He doesn't do it with a mule and a plow-share. We flip a switch and expect the table saw to saw. It isn't powered by a compost pile, nor is the computer for posting to SMC. Our cell phones, chisels, and even our skillet require mines and smelters and trucks for delivery (expedited, of course). We ARE the ones who are accountable, unless of course, you can claim to not be any part of the modern world.

I am not forgiving corporate greed, willful destruction, or intentional stupidity, but we need to keep some perspective. Is it corporate greed? Or were they rushing to fill my order?

And yes, I know this won't win friends and influence people... Que sera.

[Pat Barry]

We forget that if humans didn't mine it, the river would. The EPA did in a day what the river itself would have done in 10,000 yrs (at least that's what one expert said the Colorado river took to dig the Grand Canyon). Kind of like we forget that all the fossil fuels were at one time - - non-fossil (aka critters & plants).

We live in an age of specialization. We are artists, or craftsman, or IT managers because one farmer can feed 200 people. He doesn't do it with a mule and a plow-share. We flip a switch and expect the table saw to saw. It isn't powered by a compost pile, nor is the computer for posting to SMC. Our cell phones, chisels, and even our skillet require mines and smelters and trucks for delivery (expedited, of course). We ARE the ones who are accountable, unless of course, you can claim to not be any part of the modern world.

I am not forgiving corporate greed, willful destruction, or intentional stupidity, but we need to keep some perspective. Is it corporate greed? Or were they rushing to fill my order?

And yes, I know this won't win friends and influence people... Que sera.

I refuse to accept accountability for this disaster. Not to say I don't have some of my own that I can manage without publicity

[Malcolm McLeod]

I refuse to accept accountability for this disaster...

It is my sincere hope that this perspective works out well for you.

[Phil Thien]

Is it corporate greed? Or were they rushing to fill my order?

I know what you're driving at, but I'm going with corporate greed.