Amazing how disasters change people’s ambivalence toward mines.
According to this High Country News story, “Silverton’s Gold King reckoning,” the Colorado mining town of Silverton has regretted its original choice to oppose federal mine clean-up after the ancient mine had already created a pollution problem.
History is full of mining leaks, spills and downright disasters that have at least impaired and at most wreaked havoc on the streams, wildlife and landscapes around them. Far, far fewer are the stories of “harmless” mines, maybe because they don’t exist.
The problem is that mines bring hazardous material from underground – where they’re safely locked away – to the surface where the companies and taxpayers then have to deal with them. At that point, the wastes are ticking time bombs, waiting to go off when it’s least expected.