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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Aug 12, 2015 - 03:59pm PT
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That's right, the real solution is to let the mining industry police itself as free market economics will insure they do the right thing.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Aug 12, 2015 - 04:06pm PT
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Read the letter to the editor, published on July 30, written by a geologist who retired to Farmington.
http://www.silvertonstandard.com/news.php?id=847
Ether total incompetence or a setup.
take your pick.
Then there's the whole other issue of trying to swindle Indians out of any legal recourse.
Progs are no different in their religious attitudes about bureaucrats. (their priesthood)than the Catholic faithful about their priests.
After all,they all operate from only the purest of motives.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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i'm gumby dammit
Sport climber
da ow
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Aug 12, 2015 - 04:39pm PT
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So lets see. According to his editorial the Red and Bonita mines were plugged, and all the water which was previously leaking built up until it reached a level above the Gold King mine which was then breached so the water above the Gold King mine was released, but all at once. So instead of all of the water that was held behind Red and Bonita reaching the Animas slowly via Cement Creek, just the water that was trapped behind the Gold King bulkhead reached the Animas, but it did it all at once instead of slowly. The rest of the water between the Red/Bonita bulkheads but vertically below the Gold king is still there.
In terms of total volume of water released into the Animas, this sounds like a win.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Aug 12, 2015 - 04:51pm PT
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From what I've been able to figure out there are several mines that were discharging somewhere between 50-500 gpm. That size flow could be adequately treated with a small package plant that would easily fit on a semi trailer. Hell, several remediation companies rent them. (we don't sell anything that small) They pull up the trailer and start cleaning up the waste stream. The cost would have been nominal, probably less than a half million per unit.
Plugging up the mines was guaranteed to produce this result. It's the equivalent of fixing a leaky pressure relief valve on your water heater by putting a pipe plug in it. Sooner or later it has to blow.
It was so stupid that while not a conspiracy buff, this stinks to high heaven of a bureaucrat building an empire..
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Aug 12, 2015 - 05:13pm PT
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So the retired geologist alarmed over the impending disaster, writes a letter to the local paper two weeks before it happens and that's a "vast right wing conspiracy"?
We've been selling heavy metal removal systems since the 50's, an IX unit would have cleaned this up just fine at a reasonable cost and could have started years ago.
Crankcase has to protect the priesthood of the bureaucrat. It's his religion.
Worship at the feet of government.
The anointed ones are all so pure of motive.
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Aug 12, 2015 - 05:25pm PT
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TGT, I can only hope that your pathetic personal attacks render you a seat alongside Ron in the near future. Keep it up, speed up the process. Your problem is that you let Limbaugh and the other talk yakkers you listen to obsessively do all of your thinking for you. Donald Trump is making a laughing stock of this country because of angry folks like you. Fanatics with no idea how to govern, no ideas, no solutions, only complaints.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Aug 12, 2015 - 05:27pm PT
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[Click to View YouTube Video]
Progs always manage to show their true nature as slightly friendlier fascists.
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timy
Sport climber
Durango
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Aug 13, 2015 - 06:23am PT
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So that's your solution TGT? Just hate the government and progressives? Hmmm, seems about as solid as the people healing the river with chants and crystals and waving their hands over the water.
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i'm gumby dammit
Sport climber
da ow
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Aug 13, 2015 - 09:27am PT
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But the chants worked. It's been clear for several days now. Much like Rick Perry's prayers brought rain to Texass.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Aug 13, 2015 - 10:25am PT
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We've been selling heavy metal removal systems since the 50's, an IX unit would have cleaned this up just fine at a reasonable cost and could have started years ago.
The toxins are transferred, not removed. By that I mean the IX regeneration waste streams still need to be addressed.
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dirtbag
climber
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Aug 13, 2015 - 10:40am PT
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Washington times, lol.
Hey TGT, you do know that the source for that fly-attracting, right wing propaganda piece that you posted above was founded and is owned by a cult, right?
Too friggin funny.
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet published at 3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, D.C., United States. It was founded in 1982 by the founder of the Unification Church, Sun Myung Moon and was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the church, until 2010 when it was purchased directly by a group led by Moon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times
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couchmaster
climber
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Aug 13, 2015 - 11:18am PT
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Thanks for that link TGT. Regardless of what we all personally "believe", the allegations contained in Dave Taylor's letter to the editor of the Silverton rag predicting this a week before it occurred and stating that is was being intentionally caused by the EPA- need to be investigated. If proven to be true: firings, criminal prosecutions and convictions should follow.
"Taylor then went on to explain in detail how millions of gallons of heavy-metal laden water would be released because of the buildup of too much pressure by the EPA plugging the mine. Under this scenario, the EPA would need instant funding to build a treatment plant for the clean up process. Taylor was dead-on. "“Based on my 47 years of knowledge and experience as a professional geologist,” Taylor wrote. “It appears to me that the EPA is setting your town and the area up for a possible Superfund blitzkrieg.”
Taylor then explained that EPA officials were fully aware of what was going to happen to the mine after certain portals were blocked and that the EPA’s “grand experiment” would backfire shortly after. He explained in detail how the integrity of the mine would quickly degrade, then gave the dire prediction that within 120 days, there would be a catastrophic failure.
“Reading between the lines, I believe that has been the EPA’s plan all along,” Taylor continued. “The proposed Red & Bonita plugging plan has been their way of getting their foot in the door to justify their hidden agenda for construction of a treatment plant.”
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Gorgeous George
Trad climber
Los Angeles, California
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Aug 13, 2015 - 12:56pm PT
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My family and I floated down Las Animas on Wednesday morning, unbeknownst to us, the toxic spill was taking place upstream. The next day, we drove to Ouray and saw the orange colored river. We didn't find out till the next day (Fri) what had happened.
It's a major catastrophe, and with all the abandoned mines in the area, amazing it hadn't happened before.
Here's a photo of our group splashing through the man-made rapids (I'm the fat one in front).
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timy
Sport climber
Durango
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Aug 13, 2015 - 01:04pm PT
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It has happened before. In 1978 the entire content of Lake Emma drained through the mine and the Animas looked the same orange. I guess it wasn't as big of a deal back then. I'm probly too young to remember if there was EPA involvement, but I think we just ignored it and it went on downstream.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Aug 13, 2015 - 01:49pm PT
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Had the locals not fought the Superfund designation the site would have been addressed properly long ago instead of with the stop gap measures which led to this spill.
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i'm gumby dammit
Sport climber
da ow
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Aug 13, 2015 - 02:00pm PT
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Yes because the stop gap didn't stop the gap.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Aug 13, 2015 - 02:04pm PT
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Had the locals not fought the Superfund designation the site would have been addressed properly long ago instead of with the stop gap measures which led to this spill.
Maybe so. But that doesn't excuse the EPA's role in this recent spill.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Aug 13, 2015 - 02:34pm PT
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The EPA didn't have any 'role' in the recent spill beyond hiring and oversight of the contractors who were attempting to pipe the collapsed entrance for draining. Should they have stopped and thought it through more in light of the the retired engineer's editorial? Quite possibly, but once the project wheels and contracts are in motion - whether in government or private enterprise - people are loathe to postpone the work.
The Superfund designation would have brought far more upfront analysis to bear on the situation along with public comments which would have been a more appropriate medium for those cautionary comments.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 13, 2015 - 03:08pm PT
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All you guys do is carp, carp, carp.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Aug 13, 2015 - 10:10pm PT
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The carp are dead, dead, dead...
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