I was thinking about reaction of Grand Junction politicians regarding the storage of mercury in a facility near Whitewater. It is almost like a reflex to say... "NO we do not want this poison in our area! Mercury will kill us! Say no to mercury!" and the chants go on....
What I find interesting is that when the government asked people to store mercury in THEIR OWN HOMES, in a fragile glass container, there was no backlash. What I am talking about is those fluorescent spiral light bulbs. They all contain mercury. The government told us we HAVE to have them in homes by 2011. Good idea? I think not.
I worked in a gold mines for about 10 years. The process that collects gold from the rock, also collects mercury from the rock. Some of the "old timers" that did the actual refining of the gold metal would often have a large amount of mercury in their system. They worked at a time where personal protection equipment wasn't used much, if at all. I can tell you from my personal experience that too much mercury, will turn you loony tunes, that is a fact. Some of those guys were had lost a few marbles that is for sure.
But what I haven't seen is the affects of radioactive uranium tailing's has on people. They stored (or still store, I'm not sure) radioactive mill tailing's in the same location. Isn't radioactivity worse than mercury poisoning?
I am not convinced that storing mercury in Mesa County is a good idea, but I am also not convinced that is is a bad idea either. I have many questions that haven't been answered...
What is the storage facility going to be like?
What is the economic impact?
Will the traffic increase?
Do we get paid for doing it?
How are they going to ship the mercury?
What is around the storage facility?
Do we have a choice?
Plus many more questions. I am not a NIMBY (Nimby is short for Not In My Back Yard) kinda guy. I need to know all the options before I say yes or no to something. Don't turn your back on something just because it sounds good for campaigning, actually investigate the situation, it may actually be a good thing.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
2 comments:
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Todd, I've received some great emails on the Mesa County Democrats e-mail list about this. It seems there is a lot more history to this issue, specifically relating to the Conditional Use Permit that the county granted DOE when the Cheney disposal cell was built, and the restrictions of that CUP.
ReplyDeleteThe hearing is next Tuesday, 5:30 PM at Two Rivers Convention Center. It will be interesting from several perspectives, not the least of which is the contention that DOE is not permitted to store anything like that at Cheney. It's not just NIMBY, it's more like follow the rules you agreed to in the first place.
John
Well honey I don't recall agreeing to mercury, do you? some peoples kids!!!
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