Finland Toxic Spill Worst Ever in History
B. McPherson
All too often resource extraction promises big bucks but delivers big headaches.
Finland is waking up to the realization that they are coping
with their worst toxic spill ever. A formerly pristine area of eastern Finland
has become fouled by uranium and nickel. Leachate ponds for the Talvivaara Mine
have failed and are allowing toxic levels of nickel to spill into nearby
waterways.
The local health people say that the levels of radiation from the uranium
are below levels that would damage health – unless the radioactive material
gets into the drinking water supply. That means that people cannot use the
water from lakes, streams or rivers in the area for cooking or drinking. Due to
the possible impact on skin, it is also recommended that people not use the
water in their saunas.
The Talvivaara mine is an open pit operation, extracting low
grade nickel sulphide. Other metals extracted include copper, zinc and cobalt.
The method used is a leaching process where the crushed ore sits in ponds in a
leaching solution. It is the main pond that has failed this time.
Local tourist operators in the area of the Talvivaara mine
complain that the rotten egg smell from the leaching ponds have ruined their
business. A worker at the site not correctly wearing protective gear has died
from breathing the toxic fumes. Hydrogen sulphide combines with oxygen in the
air to form sulphuric acid.
The beautiful lakes, rivers and creeks – clean freshwater - are the most valuable asset Finns have. You wouldn’t think that we would let somebody poison them. But it happened. The people downstream feel themselves totally powerless, and fear their own drinking water. Greenpeace
Many times entrepreneurs sell a local population on the
value of a resource extraction project. They predict good paying jobs, tax
money for improvements and a higher standard of living. All too often there’s a
short burst of affluence and then the environmental bill comes due.
Comments
Post a Comment