The
Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana started as an open pit copper mine in 1955, and was closed in 1982. At that time,
groundwater pumping ceased and the pit started to flood, leading to what is now one of the largest
Superfund sites. The water body was considered uninhabitable, with
high concentrations of copper, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum, manganese and zinc and of pH of 2.5 (
as acidic as a lemon), but
in 1995, a small clump of green slime was noticed floating on the water's surface. Since then,
the algae blooms have been studied as a possible method of remediation for the toxic waters. That same year,
a migratory flock of snow geese landed in the pit lake. Stormy weather kept the flock on the lake, and when the weather cleared, 342 birds were dead.
A Migratory Bird Protection Plan was then put in place, to prevent such occurrences from happening again. In the spring of 1996, a surprising discovery was made:
yeast, which shouldn't grown in those pH levels, was surviving, and absorbing eighty-seven percent of the metals in the water. Furthermore,
Andrea and
Donald Stierle, professors who have been studying the pit lake since 1995, have found 70 compounds that might be medically useful.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Dec 6, 2011 -
36 comments
Sylvia Londono, a real estate agent and mother of two, says her condo, which she bought for $450,000 in 2007, is now worth $150,000. She has never moved in, she says, put off by the stench that rises from the site and a nearby sewage treatment plant on rainy days. “It has been the worst experience ever,” says Londono
Welcome to
Biscayne Landing! You can learn a lot about our sprawling development by reading these informational "
articles" (all internally written). Just please don't read
this one (source of above quote). Mmmk, thanks!
[more inside]
posted by obscurator
on Jul 8, 2011 -
39 comments
Picher, Oklahoma was part of a
major lead mining area in the central US until the middle of the last century, when the
mines closed down. It is now the
epicenter of the
Tar Creek Superfund site. Residents live among mountains of
mine tailings known
as chat. Heavy metal poisoning is endemic in the area. With fits and starts, things do begin to get done about it, but only very slowly.
To add insult to injury, Picher was
struck by an
EF-4 tornado on May 10th, 2008. The residents are finally
suing over the long in
coming
buyout plan. Shockingly, the buyout plan was put into place with urgency not because of the lead, zinc, and cadmium poisoning,
but because the mines are
in danger of caving in. There is still word on when the
mountains of debris will be removed, or the acid mine drainage stopped. Despite attempts to prevent further contamination in the 1980s and 90s, the waste is still
poisoning local creeks and
wildlife.
posted by wierdo
on Apr 9, 2009 -
15 comments
Need a power source for your
electric car?
Be careful
building a nuclear power
plant in
your back yard, or you could be the center of the next suburban
superfund cleanup.
And it is perhaps best that he does not work on the ship's eight reactors, for EPA scientists worry that his previous exposure to radioactivity may have greatly cut short his life. All the radioactive materials he experimented with can enter the body through ingestion, inhalation, or skin contact and then deposit in the bones and organs, where they can cause a host of ailments, including cancer.
posted by b1tr0t
on Jun 28, 2005 -
19 comments
