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comment by thenewgreen
thenewgreen  ·  4979 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Mountaintop Removal
I used to live a few hours from this in college:

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/printinfo.pl?PHOTO=ISS013-...

"The Berkeley Pit receives groundwater flowing through the surrounding bedrock and acts as a “terminal pit” or sink for these heavy-metal-laden waters, which can be as strong as battery acid".

It's in the town of Butte MT. Commonly referred to as "Butt" by some other Montanans. The city was once the wealthiest in the nation but after they rapped the landscape and left it battered and bruised, the money quickly left and all they were left with was a giant toxic sink whole. It's a strange sight.





chiroptera  ·  4974 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Wow, I cannot imagine. I have been to Montana, but did not make it quite as far as Butte. It is astounding that a state with such innate beauty could have an eye sore of a pit next to one of its major cities. These are externalities without cost for the rest of the country, but in these battered states it has become a part of the landscape.
thenewgreen  ·  4971 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Yeah, it was quite the eye sore. Luckily, I never spent much time in Butte, I was in Missoula most of the time. I spent some time in Glacier National Park which I would recommend to anyone. -Wonderful place.