Mining is harmful to the great outdoors, polluting bodies of water and harming the environment. The PolyMet mine will damage the surrounding area and possibly harm the Boundary waters, which is one of the only untouched places in Minnesota.
Despite assurances, no mine has ever not polluted the surrounding area. Pollution can affect the surrounding wilderness for hundreds of years. In 2015, when the Animas River was polluted from a mine, 300 million gallons of wastewater were leaked into the river(CNN). The lead levels were 1200 times higher than normal after the spill. Consequently, the PolyMet mine could prevent future generations from enjoying the untouched wilderness in the years to come. In addition to pollution, the mine will also remove several wildlife habitats. Urban sprawl has led to land turned into shopping malls and homes, so the mines will be piling onto the problem of rapidly receding wilderness.
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There are several mines that have potential to pollute surrounding bodies of water, similar to what happened with the Animas. People need to realize that the wild is rapidly disappearing and if they don't act upon it, the wilderness will be gone
I would have to say that from the reading that it can be very harmful for the coal mining chemicals to seep into the ground into our drinking water.
Some important things made from metals include cars, bridges, appliances, power generation, infrastructure, and obviously many more. Everything electrical needs copper, (which is mined), to function. A major concern for the mine is that it will pollute and destroy the nearby natural
Referring to mining industry claims that these sites have minimal surface disturbance Bahr states, “It is blight upon the land… but it doesn’t take much for contamination.” Conservation groups argue that irreversible damage to important waters like Havasu Creek will occur if radioactive contaminants reach the groundwater that supply springs and seeps in the Grand Canyon.
What some people may be worried about is the fact that this mine could destroy the wonderful peace of the Boundary Waters, for at least 20 years while PolyMet does their mining. The Boundary Waters are located in one of the 12 places on Earth where you can go 15 minutes without hearing human noise. You can ask pretty much anyone who has been to the Boundary Waters, and they will tell you just how peaceful and serene it is. I honestly think 20 years worth of jobs in that area cannot match up to the amazing environment that is already there.
Imagine drifting slowly on a canoe while fishing one of Minnesota's crystal clear waters on a beautiful, sunny day. Now imagine being interrupted by the loud, ongoing sounds of drilling and being told the fish were too dangerous to eat. This is only one of many potential harms of sulfide mining. PolyMet, a new mining company would like to bring sulfide mining, also known as copper-nickel mining to Minnesota. This would involve the extraction of copper and various other metals from sulfide, hence the name. The sulfide that comes out of this type of mining can have serious consequences on the environment. Events that occurred in the past and facts mentioned in the books titled Taconite Dreams by Jeffrey Manuel and Fractured Land by Lisa
Furthermore, mining disturbs soil and rock formations that could have otherwise been homes for plants and
The first reason is the pollution. Any major mining excavation creates a huge amount of waste. This waste is toxic to the environment, and the method for containing it is not 100% guaranteed. They store this waste in large man made holes called tailing dams. There have been many reports of these storage structures breaking and spilling the waste all over the land. This waste would pollute the land and make it uninhabitable. The most affected would be the salmon. Salmon fishing is huge part of the Alaskan life and if the salmon were affected by the mining, a lot of people would lose their jobs.
One consequence on the environment would have been from the pollutants the mine would have given off. One of these pollutants would be Mercury. In the process of getting iron ore from taconite pellets, which is what is mined, the taconite must be heated up, one element that is given off during the heating process is Mercury (WI DNR, 2003, 22-25). When Mercury is in it’s gaseous form, it enters the water cycle and helps form acid rain (WI DNR, 2003). When the acid rain is released as precipitation, it enters the waterways and pollutes the waters. In the case of Northern Wisconsin, this acid rain would help pollute the Bad River Watershed, one of the biggest tributaries of Lake Superior, which would be polluted from the Mercury. Pollution of Lake Superior would be devastating. Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake and it’s water flows through the Great Lakes, down the St. Lawrence River, and into the Atlantic Ocean, all of which would be polluted. Also, Lake Superior is a huge source of drinking water for a huge portion of cities located right on the lake including Ashland and Superior in Wisconsin, Duluth and Cloquet in Minnesota, Sault St. Marie and Marquette in Minnesota, and Thunder Bay in Canada just to name a few (Lake by Lake, 2003). Another major pollutant is Sulfate. Sulfate is one of the major parts of taconite mine runoff. Sulfate does the same as Mercury except it is mixed in the water right away instead of being in acid rain, though it is a component to acid rain (WI DNR, 2013, iv). Sulfate directly ran off into watersheds creates more problems than if it were just in acid rain. In the Bad River Watershed, wild rice is a prominent crop grown in the water for the Ojibwe. That runoff can form Sulfide, and it has been shown in Minnesota to be toxic to wild rice, helping destroy a means of income for so many people (“Wild Rice Sulfate, 2014, 5-6).
Alaska should not allow the Pebble Partnership to build the Pebble Creek mine in Southwest Alaska. The benefits of the mine are nothing compared to what would happen to the environment if the mine were to be built. First off, the people in this region make their living off of the salmon who live in the rivers. If the mine were to be built, those rivers would become polluted and all of the salmon would die, meaning that everyone there would have to find a new way to survive. Not only would the rivers and water sources be polluted, but the environment in general. The mine would generate about ten billion tons of waste. This would then go onto pollute the air, kill many of the plants, and harm the animals in the region. While the Pebble Partnership
One of the many reasons why I believe that the mine should be relocated is because of the toxins that the mine would create. The toxins will penetrate through the ground and into the ground water, which will flow into the rivers and into Bristol Bay where the salmon
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
Phosphorus mining is inherently destructive to the land, and many issues such as soil and water contamination are common due to strip mining and the associated run-off. Other issues preventing progress are those surrounding certain state and private institutions that hold stake in the mining industry, and who have resisted the idea of environmental protection for decades.
Minerals can affect society in many ways for example; Surface mining destroys vegetation across large areas, increasing erosion. Open-pit mining uses huge quantities of water. Acid mine drainage is pollution caused when dissolved toxic materials wash from mines into nearby lakes and streams. Minerals is approximately 80 percent of mined ore consists of impurities that become wastes after processing. These wastes, called tailings, are usually left in giant piles on the ground or in ponds near the processing plants (Figure 12.9). The tailings contain toxic materials such as cyanide, mercury, and sulfuric acid. Left
Mines pose a threat to the environment. They can degrade soil and water quality if left untreated. The United States Environmental protection Agency (USEPA)'s Region 9 assessment of state data states that there are approximately 420,000 abandoned mines in the states of
Mining Many of the planet's rainforests lie over rich mineral deposits. The mining process releases harmful toxins, like mercury and cyanide which are often used in the gold extraction process, into local streams and river, polluting both the waters and the surrounding lands. There is, however, good money in the mining industry and many residents are encouraged to work in the mines.