The Real Obscenity: They Will Call the Police

[Londo_Jowo]

Did anyone actually test that water? Or is it possibly rust from old galvanized steel piping discoloring the water?

 

[nehalem256]

Really? What prevents you from taking a bath in brown water? I'm pretty sure I did it plenty growing up. Of course you can take a bath in brown water. About 2/3rd of the worlds population does.

You could take a bath in cow urine. But I would not really call that a bath.

 

[jackstar7]

You could take a bath in cow urine. But I would not really call that a bath.

There are times when water is considered unsafe for drinking, but still safe for bathing. And color sadly has little to do with what's considered "safe", especially if it's all you know growing up...

 

[SMOGZINN]

You could take a bath in cow urine. But I would not really call that a bath.

Come out of your ivory tower. The world is a dirty messy place, and you have to make due with what is available.

 

[werepossum]

Uranium mining is worse imo, and leaves much worse runoff. I am with the rest of your post though.

I'd agree with you except that one needs soooo much less uranium or thorium than coal to produce equal amounts of power. Uranium mining is about despoiling a few places; coal mining is about despoiling many, many places.

I actually have little problem with strip mining in general, but usually it takes place on mountains because they have coal or other valuable ore and the land is typically cheap enough to make it worthwhile. Mountains are absolutely horrid places for strip mining as you can't really rebuild a mountain, nor can you really control runoff. Just goes to show the paradox of needing cheap energy for society's prosperity but needing expensive energy for environmental protection. (Because people use less of something if it's expensive.)

 

[nehalem256]

I'd agree with you except that one needs soooo much less uranium or thorium than coal to produce equal amounts of power. Uranium mining is about despoiling a few places; coal mining is about despoiling many, many places.

I actually have little problem with strip mining in general, but usually it takes place on mountains because they have coal or other valuable ore and the land is typically cheap enough to make it worthwhile. Mountains are absolutely horrid places for strip mining as you can't really rebuild a mountain, nor can you really control runoff. Just goes to show the paradox of needing cheap energy for society's prosperity but needing expensive energy for environmental protection. (Because people use less of something if it's expensive.)

Why does it matter if you rebuild a mountain? I thought change was suppose to be a good thing?

The problem of runoff sounds like a valid concern

But the idea that humans changing the environment is bad makes me deeply distrustful from anything that is said.

Not to mention that the photographer must have gone and said to the family hey can I take pictures of your daughter in her toxic bath water?

This tells me she is more concerned with the "change" then with the well being of the girl.

 

[SMOGZINN]

This tells me she is more concerned with the "change" then with the well being of the girl.

Or, she understood that she could do a lot more good for that little girl by snapping that photo then by lifting her out of that bath, only to have her take another one tomorrow.

And the effectiveness of snapping this photo can be seen in discussions just like this one going on across the US.

 

[werepossum]

Why does it matter if you rebuild a mountain? I thought change was suppose to be a good thing?

The problem of runoff sounds like a valid concern

But the idea that humans changing the environment is bad makes me deeply distrustful from anything that is said.

Not to mention that the photographer must have gone and said to the family hey can I take pictures of your daughter in her toxic bath water?

This tells me she is more concerned with the "change" then with the well being of the girl.

Many reasons. Mountains are majestic things that enrich our experience here on Earth. All that mass has to go someone if not rebuilt, so that area is despoiled as well. Flattening a mountain greatly changes the underlying hydraulics, which can lead to streams shifting, aquifers going dry, and other bad effects. The flora and fauna that lived on the mountain now has nowhere to live - and montane flora and fauna are often unique or rare and often endangered. (If G-d gives us a unique salamander or darter or laurel on a particular mountain, we should not just wipe it out because we prefer the coal under it; it's a unique species and therefore a precious gift.) And removing a mountain greatly changes the underlying pressures, which may cause shifting and/or earthquakes as the reduced mass weighing down in one place shifts the balance of strains on fault lines. That's just a few off the top of my head.

Incidentally, the arsenic might have nothing to do with the mining. Arsenic is not uncommon in well water, and much more strongly associated with underground aquifers (having built up over time from thousands of years' erosion) than with surface water. But it's certainly possible; the blasting might have fractured an opening into an aquifer with a higher arsenic level, or stirred up sediment possessing arsenic in higher levels. But if it were my well water, I'd be raising hell too, especially if the water is muddy or discolored. That might indicate surface contamination, and bacterial contamination is much more dangerous for contact than is inorganic arsenic. Either way, if the mining company's actions damaged this family's well water then they deserve to be made whole, not merely to have their health risks reduced to an acceptable (to the mining company's liability insurance carrier) level by furnishing some bottled water.

 

[jackstar7]

But the idea that humans changing the environment is bad makes me deeply distrustful from anything that is said.

Because when you de-contextualize things down to their simplest core elements then you actively filter out the specific issues with this situation that people are trying to explain to you.

This situation is not nearly a rarity, which is all the more egregious considering it leads to people living with 3rd world water supplies (or worse), while living right here in America, where the resources exist to avoid this ever happening, except for the devaluing of fellow citizens for the profit of the owners of these mining consortiums.

 

[werepossum]

Because when you de-contextualize things down to their simplest core elements then you actively filter out the specific issues with this situation that people are trying to explain to you.

This situation is not nearly a rarity, which is all the more egregious considering it leads to people living with 3rd world water supplies (or worse), while living right here in America, where the resources exist to avoid this ever happening, except for the devaluing of fellow citizens for the profit of the owners of these mining consortiums.

I suspect the mining company will now find those filtration systems to be considerably more affordable - which is of course the whole point behind the picture of the child bathing in the discolored water.