DENVER - Governor Bill Ritter wrote a letter to President Bush Friday urging him to take immediate action to help prevent a potential catastrophe near Leadville.
The Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, which has partly collapsed, has filled to the seams with as much as one billion gallons of contaminated water and threatens to burst. In the letter to the President, the Governor wrote, "Conceivably, such a release could result in the loss of life, cause untold human misery, threaten the drinking water supplies for half a million people . . .," leaving the area degraded for decades.
The Governor asked the President to direct the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the tunnel, to help state and local officials start drilling wells into the tunnel to relieve the pressure on the tunnel and pump the contaminated water to the Bureau's water treatment plant.
The state and the EPA have been trying to find a solution to the problem since 2001, but the Bureau has resisted all of their efforts, according to the letter.
Water collects in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel and becomes contaminated with heavy metals. It normally drains and is treated at a wastewater treatment plant operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. However, parts of the tunnel have collapsed and only 10 percent of the water is being released, according to State Senator Tom Wiens, R-District 4. The pressure is building because of the above-average snowfall in the mountains, raising the risk of a catastrophic event, according to Governor Ritter.
"For some years, the state of Colorado, joined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has expressed to the Bureau of Reclamation our increasing fears of a potentially catastrophic release of water to the Arkansas River that could. . . threaten human life in and around the town of Leadville and contaminate the river all the way to the Pueblo reservoir," Governor Ritter wrote to President Bush.
After how Bush & Co. handled Katrina's flooding problems, any bets that they might not cock this one up completely? Admittedly, this one has significantly more warning in advance, which might help.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
Since when has warning in advance ever stopped Bush from fucking things up on a ridiculous level? He had plenty of warning about 9/11. People had been talking about New Orleans flooding exactly as it did for decades before Katrina.
No, I expect we'll have a FUBAR situation resulting from that very soon, followed by claims from the Administration that they were never warned, never asked for help, and that the local and state government needs to lead the rescue and relief efforts.
We pissing our pants yet?
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Flagg wrote:Since when has warning in advance ever stopped Bush from fucking things up on a ridiculous level? He had plenty of warning about 9/11. People had been talking about New Orleans flooding exactly as it did for decades before Katrina.
No, I expect we'll have a FUBAR situation resulting from that very soon, followed by claims from the Administration that they were never warned, never asked for help, and that the local and state government needs to lead the rescue and relief efforts.
I'll bet dollars to donuts that when this gives way, they'll have the National Guard and the smattering of Reg Force units that aren't deployed decontaminating the land. Probably in rain gear. That should be good for a bunch of VA claims twenty years down the round.
M1891/30: A bad day on the range is better then a good day at work.
Do whatever it takes to get the wells drilled. Whether that involves a successful appeal to the Imperious Leader, or somehow appealing directly to the Bureau of Reclamation, or spending a bunch of money (even if they don't have it) to hire enough people to do it themselves. Then bill the federal government for its fair share of the expenses, whatever that may be. If the feds refuse to pay, then threaten to seize the Denver Mint and print the money themselves.
It's an extreme response, and I bet it wouldn't actually work, but I think the federal government would have it coming to them if they didn't respond appropriately to this potential disaster.
"There is no "taboo" on using nuclear weapons." -Julhelm
What is Project Zohar? "On a serious note (well not really) I did sometimes jump in and rate nBSG episodes a '5' before the episode even aired or I saw it."- RogueIce explaining that episode ratings on SDN tv show threads are bunk
There's only one way to solve this. Plowshare Sedan.
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I said to myself, either that's a nonsense phrase just to be silly, or it's a reference to nuclear device. Either one would've made sense with Shep, but of course, it is the latter.
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I didn't look up the specifics, but 'Plowshare' refers to a US program to use nuclear bombs as earthmovers.
I'm sure Shep will enlighten us as to the details.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
The 1962 "Sedan" plowshare shot displaced 12 million tons of earth and created a crater 320 feet (97.5m) deep and 1,280 feet (390.1m) wide.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
MKSheppard wrote:There's only one way to solve this. Plowshare Sedan.
Sure because the existing problem of heavy metal contamination will be offset by radioactive contamination. I approve this plan
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-Kingdom of Heaven
The lingering radiation pollution will kill off all the germs and microorganisms! Free water purification for 40+ years!
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
CmdrWilkens wrote:
Sure because the existing problem of heavy metal contamination will be offset by radioactive contamination. I approve this plan
Once the heavy metal is radioactive, they could petition the Department Of Nuclear Energy for funding to clean it up, seeings how the Bureau of Reclamation wont do anything. It’s a whole new line of bullshit paperwork that would be explored for a solution!
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
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