Time to Cleanup
August 11, 2015
Today’s stories are environmental in nature—about spills, disasters, and cleanups. In the United States, cleanup continues on a toxic spill accidentally unleashed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last Wednesday, August 5, as the EPA was inspecting an abandoned mine in Colorado, workers using heavy machinery breached a wall holding back polluted water. The breach allowed 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of toxic water to pour into Cement Creek and from there into the Animas River. The polluted water carries many heavy metals (metals that have a specific gravity higher than 5.0), including iron, zinc, and copper. The spill turned the river orange and made its water unusable for drinking and farming. Most of the visible pollution has moved out of the Animas River, but sediments in the river bed will need to be tested for some time. The spill has now reached the San Juan River in New Mexico and has traveled into southern Utah. Local residents are angry that the group charged with preventing pollution had caused a spill that could affect their livelihoods and well-being.
Meanwhile, in Japan, the nation has lifted a ban on nuclear power and restarted a nuclear reactor today on the island of