The Tar Creek Superfund Site

In 1969 it was discovered that the site was leaching due to a lack of a bottom liner. The landfill was leaching volatile organic compounds (VOC), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and explosive landfill gases (LFG).

The pile provide dirty energy and wreck the environment. It is most problematic to the people living across from the river and the piles since it is where the air blows the dust. Where they are located and what business and homes are being affected. The hopes for renovating that area will quickly become into a past dream than a reality. The only cause of this problem is the existence of these piles and the demand to keep them for the use of energy. Also the council of Green Bay is partly at fault for allowing such an environmental hazard lurk in the downtown riverfront area for so long. The council's contribution to helping residents needs to step up. Something they While the existence of the coal piles is the obvious problem, looking to patch or solve this issue has become an ongoing fight for many groups, councils, and

When thinking about the most polluted states in our country, California and New York instantly pop into our mind. What most people don't know, however, is that Texas now ranks number one in most categories of pollution. Whether it be increased emissions from refineries in Beaumont, large pits filled with contamination at Kelley Air Force Base, or polluted water at Lake Sam Rayburn, Texas has more than its fair share of toxic waste.

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

Prior to the late 1950s the site was used as an excavation pit for sand and gravel. The quarry was subsequently used for the disposal of waste materials from 1950 until 1966. 10 acres of the 28-acre site has been used as a disposal area for several hazardous waste contaminants that included volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, tetrahydrofuran, toluene, vinyl chloride and xylene; other organics such as phenols and PCBs as well as lead. The main area of contamination is in the southern half of the 10 acre area which encompasses about 6 acres which

The Tar Creek Superfund Project is located in northeastern Oklahoma. It covers parts of Picher, Cardin, Quapaw, North Miami, and Commerce (4). Picher was a small town with a population of around 20,000 people (6). Tar Creek is slowly bringing the town of Picher to its knees. During the 1990’s a study found that the

The next Superfund that has greatly influenced the environment of Butler County is the Skinner Landfill. The Landfill is on 85 acres in West Chester (2). The facility was privately owned and was never actually licensed, so it closed in the 1970's (5). The landfill contains about 100 drums of chlorinated organics, and heavy metals. Along with the presence of the drums is the fact that a nearby lagoon was once used as a disposal for these contaminants, and that the site had problems with unauthorized dumping (5). Fortunately, no contaminants have been discovered leaving the site (5). The presence of these

The Buffalo Creek flood of West Virginia is believed to be the most devastating coal relate disaster in West Virginia history. The flood occurred in the Buffalo Creek area of Logan County on February 26, 1972 when three dams broke and released 132 million gallons of water and coal waste known by miners as “gob,” and is a thick sludge-like material. The gob contains many toxic chemicals and pollutants such as mercury and arsenic that are left behind from the coal mining process. The wastewater would lie in settling ponds and dams until it could be properly disposed of. The water that was left over from processing coal would be disposed of in two different ways. Some of the water would be pumped from the dam back to the “tipple”, otherwise

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

What designates a site a Superfund site? A superfund site is a hazardous location that requires long-term response to clean up

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

Tar Creek is an area that has been left behind by the American industry. After being mined for so many years, and literally they left nothing behind but dust. I believe this film was made to exploit the issues that we have in our country that go missed. So many times we over look our problems in our own country, caused by our government. The government gave this land to the Quapaw Indians and then bullied them to allow it to be destroyed by greedy business men which the government backed. To add to the issue children were hurt by it, families taken from their homes, land destroyed, and the government still ignores the situation.

Galena, the main silver ore mined in Australia, has a large percentage (86%) of lead found in it. Metal sulfides may be contained in waste rock material from mines, which can ultimately lead to sulfuric acid drainage when left out in the open air. Dangerous runoff and water contamination can also be the result of improper storage of tailings, which contain harmful minerals and materials. Some mine waste and tailing dump sites are found to be structurally unsound and therefore overflow oftenly and break. This breakage allows contaminants to spill out over the surrounding environment. In some cases, mines take no consideration of the surrounding environment and will have long pipes or waste canals that carry tailings to the waterways for

Transport of contaminated sediments from major regional Superfund projects in the NY/NJ harbor corridor has been the preferred back-end alternative after the dredging remedy is performed in order to clean these areas without generating higher costs. However, after dewatering, these sediments are shipped at great distances (to UT, OK, TX, ID) for final disposition at C landfills or for incineration. Corporate risk management in mishandling the Superfund sediment in transport such as a derailment can lead to long-term corporate liability as well as environmental hazards from a spill from both the ecological and human health perspectives. As such, a new localized remediation method involving superheating sediments on-site within a rotary kiln have recently been implemented in other areas, and, because of its beneficial use product generation, reduction of risk and gaseous contaminants, and removal of transport costs, it is now being considered as a viable alternative to traditional post-dredge remediation procedures.