For the first time, the Environmental
Protection Agency’s annual inventory of industrial toxic releases
included hardrock mining and six other industries – and the
newcomers stole the show.
With the addition of
these industries to the Toxics Release Inventory (HCN, 9/16/96),
reported toxic releases in the United States nearly tripled,
increasing from 2.6 to 7.3 billion pounds, 3.5 billion pounds of
which came from hardrock mining. “It demonstrates to the public
what they didn’t know before – the hardrock-mining industry is the
biggest polluter in the country,” says Alan Septoff of the Mineral
Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
Industry
representatives don’t deny the charge, although they say most of
the toxins released occur naturally in the rock being mined. “The
only way to reduce the numbers (of toxins) is to mine less,” says
Doug Hock, a spokesman for Newmont Mining
Corporation.
Regardless of their natural origins,
arsenic, lead and mercury are only toxic when disturbed, Septoff
says. “When it’s in the ground before it’s mined, it isn’t
threatening anybody.”
Of all the toxins reported
by the mines, the EPA says mercury releases are the most alarming.
“The news about the mercury air emissions was the biggest surprise
that came from the information from the mining industry,” says Adam
Browning, the inventory’s program manager for EPA Region 9. He says
seven gold mines in Nevada reported releases of mercury, and four
of those released a combined 13,560 pounds directly into the air.
Mercury gains toxicity as it travels up the food chain and can
cause neurological disorders in humans and
wildlife.
Because such high mercury emissions
were not expected, no federal regulations exist to prevent the
mining industry from releasing more mercury into the air. “The
mining industry has never been called upon to reduce its toxic
production,” Septoff of the Mineral Policy Center says. “Until they
have an incentive … it doesn’t pay them to act responsibly.” The
TRI can be found on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site
at http://www.epa.gov/tri.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Mining tops toxic list.
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