At least a dozen other fires, sparked by pollution in the water, broke out on the river in the late 1800s and 1900s.
Who is against clean water? Anyone? Why can't States deal with this? It's not a Federal matter.
Fifty Years Ago Today....
- Thread starter ThatOwlWoman
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At least a dozen other fires, sparked by pollution in the water, broke out on the river in the late 1800s and 1900s.
Who is against clean water? Anyone? Why can't States deal with this? It's not a Federal matter.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
It's a federal matter because streams cross state boundaries, and states often share lakes. What good does it do for Illinois and Arkansas, for instance, to have regulations regarding what can be dumped in the Mississippi, if Missouri doesn't give a shit? Isn't that kind of unfair to everyone else downstream from Missouri?
Why do you think the citizens of ANY state want dirty water?
Yes, quite pristine...
Mississippi~when I lived in NOLA the joke was the water was drank 10 times before it got there (mid 70's), not so funny if you lived there & had nothing else to drink..
The water, no exaggeration, if you held up to a light, had a yellow tinge to it... No matter how long you ran the faucet..
Now w/ Reno growing so much there isn't as much water in the Truckee, (Last few an exception) so not as much but most now go over to the walker & Carson rivers were reliable flows can be counted on.....
Adolf_Twitler
Verified User
A century ago, Centralia, Pennsylvania was a busy small town filled with shops, residents and a brisk mining business. Coal from local mines fueled its homes and its economy, and its 1,200 residents worked, played and lived as tight-knit neighbors.
Today couldn’t be more different. Centralia’s streets are abandoned. Most of its buildings are gone, and smoke wafts down graffiti-strewn highways where a prosperous town once stood. The formerly busy burg has turned into a ghost town. The cause was something that’s still happening beneath Centralia’s empty streets: a mine fire that’s been burning for over 50 years, resulting in the devastation of a community and the eviction and impoverishment of many of its residents.
Coal seam fires are nothing new, but Centralia’s is the United States’ worst and one of history’s most devastating. Before the 1962 fire, Centralia had been a mining center for over a century. Home to a rich deposit of anthracite coal, the town was incorporated after mining began in the 1850s.
[The History Channel]
Today couldn’t be more different. Centralia’s streets are abandoned. Most of its buildings are gone, and smoke wafts down graffiti-strewn highways where a prosperous town once stood. The formerly busy burg has turned into a ghost town. The cause was something that’s still happening beneath Centralia’s empty streets: a mine fire that’s been burning for over 50 years, resulting in the devastation of a community and the eviction and impoverishment of many of its residents.
Coal seam fires are nothing new, but Centralia’s is the United States’ worst and one of history’s most devastating. Before the 1962 fire, Centralia had been a mining center for over a century. Home to a rich deposit of anthracite coal, the town was incorporated after mining began in the 1850s.
[The History Channel]
I have heard of these, but 50 years, WTF?? no way to put them out??
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
I'm not sure why you're so confused. Did I say that? No, I did not. If you want an adult discussion, try responding to what is written rather than making up shit.
OTOH, the Toadstool is doing everything possible to roll back environmental protections, with a wink and a nod from industry who whines that it's too expensive to not pollute. Would you like a serving of coal ash in your tap water?
https://content.sierraclub.org/coal...ew-ash-regulation-rollback-threatens-families
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
I was just going to ask the same thing.
Adolf_Twitler
Verified User
Here is an interesting read about the challenge and the damage done to our planet because of these fires.
https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/hot-hell-firefighting-foam-heats-coal-fire-debate-centralia-pa
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Holy jeebus. This is terrifying.
"In addition to carbon dioxide, “coal fires produce as many as 60 different toxic compounds, many of which are carcinogenic,” says Glenn Stracher, an expert on coal fires at East Georgia College in Swainsboro. Such toxins include arsenic, selenium, fluorine, sulfur, lead, copper, bismuth, tin, germanium and mercury, he says. Robert Finkelman, a medical geologist at the University of Texas at Dallas, estimates that 40 tons of mercury are released every year by uncontrolled coal fires, which is on a par with the amount produced by coal-fired power plants in the United States. “If we could extinguish those fires,” he says, “it would make a worthwhile contribution to reducing mercury pollution as well as carbon dioxide and other toxic elements.”"
and
"China alone loses between 100 million and 200 million tons of coal each year to mine fires, as much as 20 percent of their annual production, according to the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, based in Enschede, Netherlands. The Institute estimates that carbon dioxide emissions from these fires are as high as 1.1 billion metric tons, more than the total carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles in the United States. Second to China is India, where 10 million tons of coal burns annually in mine fires, contributing a further 51 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere."
Poor Gaia.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Second comment on this. The article was written over 9 years ago. I haven't been able to find anything about the use of the nitrogen foam to try to put it out.
Adolf_Twitler
Verified User
The fire rages on, but my point of referring to that article is exposing the problem with Coal and Coal mining, and the harm it is doing to our planet.
The article, that is 8 years old, but it also tells about the scope of the problem around the world.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
It sure does. Thanks for posting that. Very sobering.
I think that she may get re-elected, but her margin will not be as wide as it once was. I think more than a few voters will remember the scolding she gave everyone over Kavanaugh.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Who's running against her?
Apparently you believe that only the Federal bureaucracy can ensure we have clean water. I am asking you why you think the States are incapable of handling that. But if you want to pretend you're having an adult conversation when all you are doing is exhibiting your predictable pomposity and arrogance, find an echo chamber.
The argument that Trump wants polluted rivers and water is LAME and a LIE. Yet you whine like a little baby about making shit up?
That wasn't a scolding; that's absurd. She gave a very reasoned and sensible argument while the lunatics on the Party of the Jackass side of the aisle acted like spoiled angry children and attempted to destroy a d good man and his family for partisan political purposes.
If leftists had a brain, they would be embarrassed.
I haven't heard too much about that race yet. I am hoping to hear more this year. They need to get in gear if they want the position!
Nice story.
I personally believe we owe a debt of gratitude to the environmental activists of the early 1970s, and well as the Democrats and progressive Republicans in congress who set aside partisan differences to pass truly landmark legislation. Legislation that did not have an economic motive, a tax motive, a business and commerce motive, a political motive – but was the purest from of legislation for the public interest that is probably even possible in our representative democracy.
I have this prominently displayed in my office, and in my opinion, it is the most elegant and lucid expression of legislative intent I have ever seen.
Pure elegance.
I also believe that the prelude to the Endangered Species Act is arguably the purest expression of uncorrupted and noble legislative intent possible.
A real tear-jerker, considering this came from the U.S. Congress!
Interesting read, did they ever try to foam???