The Animas River Gorge is [incomparably beautiful]; I've ridden the old narrow-gauge train between Durango and Silverton, and hiked long stretches of it, and a scan from a USGS 7.5-minute quad of the area is my desktop wallpaper. Part if its myth is that its full name is Rio de las Animas Perdidas, named for the five "souls" from a Spanish regiment in the area while it was still part of New Spain. Maybe. But it is definitely rich with minerals, and as you look at the rocks lining the railroad cuts you see so many colored layers of so many types that it's not hard to understand why gold and—to a much greater extent, silver—were sought and found there.
Mining, like all extraction industries, conducts organized environmental looting, although it was probably much worse in the 1890s than it is now. Everything you didn't want went in the river, including enormous tailings piles which are all over the place; they concentrate harmful pollutants beyond natural levels. When I was there in the summer of 2012, the locals were happy that fish had been observed farther up the Animas that year than they had been seen since anyone could remember.
All that crud now in the river would have gotten there anyway, since that was most likely the remediation plan. It just happened all at once. It's definitely a disaster, but it's one that was bound to happen eventually. We can just hope this one error (on the part of a contractor) isn't used to gut EPA.
Heh. The EPA just needs to donate large amounts of donations to the ruling political parties, just like in the Mount Polley tailings pond breach (aka disaster) up in BC last year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Polley_mine_d…
test snark only- why can't I comment (as if it were allowed)?
huh. it works here. my reply to sw19womble in the last one didn't stick.
Anyone who's serious about tinfoil hats knows that proper grounding is essential!
The mods are just messing with you.
Perhaps your earlier comment was determined to be immoderate. The moderators insist on moderation in all things.
everything in moderation- including moderation?
I wondered why there's now about five copies sitting under my comment.. .I thought it was an in-joke!
I guess I sent the post using fat electrons. My bad!
It is now.
They're listening to the radio again. Remembered seeing this on MM sidebar the other day. http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/08/14/limbaugh…
The Animas River Gorge is [incomparably beautiful]; I've ridden the old narrow-gauge train between Durango and Silverton, and hiked long stretches of it, and a scan from a USGS 7.5-minute quad of the area is my desktop wallpaper. Part if its myth is that its full name is Rio de las Animas Perdidas, named for the five "souls" from a Spanish regiment in the area while it was still part of New Spain. Maybe. But it is definitely rich with minerals, and as you look at the rocks lining the railroad cuts you see so many colored layers of so many types that it's not hard to understand why gold and—to a much greater extent, silver—were sought and found there.
Mining, like all extraction industries, conducts organized environmental looting, although it was probably much worse in the 1890s than it is now. Everything you didn't want went in the river, including enormous tailings piles which are all over the place; they concentrate harmful pollutants beyond natural levels. When I was there in the summer of 2012, the locals were happy that fish had been observed farther up the Animas that year than they had been seen since anyone could remember.
All that crud now in the river would have gotten there anyway, since that was most likely the remediation plan. It just happened all at once. It's definitely a disaster, but it's one that was bound to happen eventually. We can just hope this one error (on the part of a contractor) isn't used to gut EPA.
Heh. The EPA just needs to donate large amounts of donations to the ruling political parties, just like in the Mount Polley tailings pond breach (aka disaster) up in BC last year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Polley_mine_d…
What's good for M&M Enterprises is good for…