A Brief Note On The California Pit Disaster

In 1907, two miles south of Centralia, Illinois was the Centralia Mine No. 5. The Mine was there to provide coal during World War II. This particular mine employed 250 men and produced 2,000 tons of coal each day. During the next several years there were several complaints made regarding the safety of the mine. On March 25, 1947, the mine exploded, killing 111 miners. (Stillman, 2010)

toxic waste began. The toxic footprint of the Hanford site is enormous, in absolute and relative terms: 43

There has been contamination found in the groundwater surrounding all four towns. The groundwater is contaminated with VOCs, trichloroethene (TCE), ethylene dibromide (EDB), carbon tetrachloride (CCI4), perchloroethylene (PCE), benzene, vinal chloride, 1,1,2,2-TeCA, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, manganese, thallium, lead, toluene, and RDX. “Ethylene dibromide is especially worry some because it was found upwelling in cranberry bogs located in Falmouth and Mashpee (militarycontamination)”. Where it would was stored in the cranberries skin. “Falmouth being the most affected area losing twenty five percent of its possible drinking water supply (wr.usgs)”. Although the plumes are deep down in the aquifer. “People could be at risk if they accidentally drink the water or come into direct contact with the contaminated groundwater (militarycontamination)”. The way towns keep the residents from coming in contact with the possible risks of

There are many factors that contribute to Idaho’s pollution problem, but mining may be the biggest. Mining is a huge industry in Idaho, hence the nickname “The Gem State”. The biggest product from Idaho’s mines is silver. Silver mines are some of the largest polluters in the state. Bunker Hill, or Silver Valley, as the Coeur d’Alene region is known for its numerous mines, was recently named a Superfund site. A Superfund site is a site under protection for removal of toxic wastes by the EPA. Although that beautiful valley was also once known for its abundant wildlife, now the rivers are flooded with phosphorous, selenium, zinc, lead, silver, cadmium, and arsenic, all from tailings of several mines in the region. Lake Coeur d’Alene now contains over 70 million tons of toxic waste sediments in its bottom. This pollution has endangered people in the area for years. In Smelterville, where a smelter ran for nearly 100 years, a large number of people have been diagnosed with health complications caused by extremely high levels of lead and other toxins in their blood. These conditions, for most, have existed nearly all their lives. Many remember being ill for most of their childhood and on. In 1973, before the smelter was closed, the average lead toxin level per deciliter of blood in children tested was 70. A reading of 10 is considered high alert. Rocky Hill, who grew up in Smelterville and

The tar creek mining site originally was owned by a Native American tribe, the Quapaw. The Quapaw wanted to keep these lands, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs deemed members opposing a transaction to mining companies “incompetent” (1). In such a case the business could continue and the Bureau of Indian Affairs sold the lands to mining companies. In essence these lands were stolen from the Quapaw because they were ripe for mining. These mines were then used from approximately 1891 to 1970. In the 79 years the mines were open 1.7 million metric tons (~3.75 billion pounds) of lead and 8.8 million metric tons (~19.4 billion pounds) of zinc were withdrawn from the mine (2). The entire area around Tar Creek is known as the tri-state mining

Although drinking water is not yet known to have been affected, the groundwater was contaminated with volatile organic compounds and heavy metals (5). Both of these types of contaminants have been linked with one or several of the following: cancer, liver, kidney, and nervous system problems (4). In July 1979, the State Court required that all material be removed from the site by July 1980 (5). The state has spent over $300,000 cleaning this site (5). According to EPA standards, this site is in the "construction completed" stage of clean up. This does not mean, however that actual cleanup is complete because groundwater may need to be treated more than 30 years before contaminants are at accepted levels (5).

The process of mining lead and zinc ore produces mine tailings . The mine tailings are better known as chat. Throughout the years of mining Picher became known for the immense chat piles that surrounded the landscape, an amazing 70 million tons. Unbeknownst to the community of Picher, the chat piles contained hazardous materials. The toxins contained in the chat piles consisted of lead, zinc, cadmium, arsenic, iron and manganese. The people of Picher, unaware of the toxicity, played and picnicked on these enormous chat piles for years. It did not occur to the people of the area that health and developmental issues were caused from the chat piles until the Health Department tested 100 children of the mining community for lead. Out of the 100 children tested 43% had elevated levels of lead in their blood. The EPA declared Picher a Superfund site in 1983. This leads many people to believe that clean-up of the area is possible; however the actions taken by the EPA fall incredibly

Joseph Kataquapit started the conversation about how he was exposed to the contaminated environment but nor his parents or himself was not aware of the toxic environment of their school. It took several years to keep the promise to build a new school even though the federal government acknowledge the fuel leak beneath the school is the toxic and rate as level 1, high sensitive site (News, 2014).

Water contamination is the next major concern of environmental groups. The Environmental Protection Agency, the governmental regulatory agency created in 1970 to manage the enforcement of environmental policy, states its concerns in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2009 (United). Specifically addressing mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, the EPA expressed serious concerns over water pollution from strip mining (“EPA”). The rupture of an ash dike at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, TN on December 22, 2008 granted credibility to the EPA’s concerns. In an article published by in Environmental Health Perspectives, Rhitu Chatterjee comments on the poisonous substances contained in ash produced from processing coal, listing

The pit is highly contaminated with heavy metals and acids. The water in the Berkeley Pit has a very high concentration of heavy metals. As the water filled the pit the water picked up leftover copper, iron, arsenic, cadmium, and zinc. Because of all of the massive amounts of metal deposits in the water the pit’s water is red and lime-green in color. The persistence of the heavy metals in the pit water and surrounding areas will be hundreds of years before the concentration thins out. The pit’s critical water level is 5410 ft. Once the water reaches this level it will begin to contaminate surrounding ground water, and potentially spread down the Clark Fork River. This pit, filled with toxic, contaminated water, is an environmental hazard. The water in the Berkeley pit is a poison, as it killed a flock of migrating snow geese, which will be discussed below. MGMB says “A long-term

The site is characterized by contaminated groundwater encompassing an area approximately 800 acres underlying the city of Olean, the Town of Olean and the Town of Portville, and by contaminated soil at certain locations in the city and town of Olean. The site is approximately 65 miles southeast of Buffalo, New York, and seven miles north of the New York/Pennsy/Vania border. The

The damage was revealed in 1962, this was a turning point in the public opinion to chemical

Three causes of the 1984 Bhopal Chemical Plant disaster in India were long-term financial difficulties, poor safety management and inadequate emergency plans. The disaster occurred when water entered a methyl isocyanate (MIC) storage tank, which led to a runaway reaction and then discharged toxic MIC vapour into the atmosphere. The leak caused the deaths of more than 2,000 people and injured about 200,000 locals in the surrounding shanty towns (Kletz 2009, p. 338).

The worldwide problem of acid mine drainage causes harm to waterways, plants, animals, and even humans. Acid mine drainage is water with a high acidity content that originates from water coming in contact with highly acidic-bearing materials in rocks. Those rocks are common in mining regions, which is why acid mine drainage is such a problem for those locations, including the coal mining region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The water affected by acid mine drainage becomes yellow or orange in color due to the presence of dissolved iron in the oxygen-rich water and the water reeks of sulfur. The water from acid mine drainage has a high pH level and can be dangerous if it comes in contact with living organisms. Acid mine drainage occurs gradually, with some scientists and governmental officials predicting some cases of acid mine drainage may be around for as long as a thousand years (Earthworks Action). Acid mine drainage is a monetary burden as well as an environmental one. The materials used in the common chemical-treatment processes for acid mine drainage are very costly, with materials costing nearly $1,000 per gallon. Six primary chemicals are used to treat acid mine drainage, and they are: calcium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, calcium oxide, sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide (in solid, 20% liquid and 50% liquid forms), and anhydrous ammonia (Skousen, Hilton and Faulkner, Overview of Acid Mine Drainage Treatment with Chemicals). All of these chemicals can be efficient in

Another threat to the environment is acid mine drainage (also known as acid rock drainage). Acid mine drainage is "the outflow of acidic water from a mining site." This acid is formed by the oxidation of iron sulfide. The oxidation occurs when iron sulfide is exposed to the air or to dissolved oxygen in the water, which causes the iron to rust and the sulfur reacts with the water to forum sulfuric acid (Coil, D., McKittrick, E., and Higman, B., 2010). Figure 2 illustrates the sulfuric acid that is formed.