Enrique Gili is a freelance writer covering Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (Will tons of mercury now housed in eight U.S. chemical plants eventually get into the hands of poverty-stricken people panning for gold in developing countries and then into rivers and the air?
The U.S. government, led by the Environmental Protection Agency, is aware that the marketplace forces of supply and demand could make this scenario into a reality. With a goal of preventing that from happening, policy analysts now are studying how best to manage domestic stocks of the neurotoxic metal. ( E&EN News)
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Comments
Just read the linked article. Wow.
In the approximately 20 years that the Comstock Lode was being worked intensively, the mill operators did their best to keep mercury from escaping- not out of concern for the environment, but because the stuff was expensive and if it escaped in the wastewater it took gold and silver with it- and yet in spite of their efforts an estimated 7500 tons of the stuff found its way into the Carson River and the soil of Storey County.
The small-scale miners the article speaks of are apparently not taking any precautions at all, and might not even be aware of how they could reduce their emissions.
Not a pretty prospect, that's for sure.
Posted by: Ktesibios | May 29, 2007 09:41 PM