Until the 1970s, laws governing the disposal of hazardous waste materials were virtually nonexistent. Large corporations, such as 3M and Dow Chemical Company, were free to dump tons of waste materials in both landfills and bodies of water. The first law to regulate the removal of dangerous wastes was RCRA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, in 1976. Then, in 1980, Congress passed the Superfund law, which provided for the treatment and removal of previously abandoned waste sites. Today, many of these Superfund sites still exist. Federal and state governments, as well as liable companies, have been slow to respond to the problem due to a lack of funds.
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| A typical toxic waste dump. They are not hard to spot from a satellite-view map. |
There are thousands of hazardous waste sites all over the United States. Just over one thousand are still at the top of the National Priorities List. In Minnesota, there are currently twenty-five sites on the NPL. Of these, two are in Washington County—the Baytown Township Ground Water Plume and Oakdale Dump—and three are in Ramsey County—Koppers Coke, the MacGillis & Gibbs/Bell Lumber & Pole Co. site, and the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant site.
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| Elizabeth Copper Mine Superfund site in Vermont. |
As more and more toxic landfills grow around the country, the number of people at risk for a plethora of unnatural health problems also increases. Cancer is often developed by those living in close proximity to a dump site. Children and unborn babies are at the greatest risk; their development can be greatly inhibited, even to the point of death. The variety of health problems associated with hazardous waste is caused by an equally large variety of contaminants. Lead, mercury, asbestos, dioxin, benzene, TCE, and carbon tetrachloride are only a handful of such pollutants.
For a map of toxic sites, see <http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/index.jsp>
This article provides a great example of an organization lobbying to prevent toxic waste reforms: <http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/09/09/13323/new-battleground-over-toxic-reform-american-chemistry-council-targets-states>
Very interesting article. I did not know that there are so many hazardous waste sites in Minnesota, especially close to where I live. I believe this is a topic that gets forgotten about until something huge happens like serious illnesses or death. Scary to think something so toxic resides in such a populated areas. I've seen documentaries about this kind of stuff!
ReplyDeleteRecycling and being preservative on the amount of waste one goes through in a day can tremendously help the pollution problem. Simply by monitoring and limiting the amount of toilet paper, paper plates, cleaning products, and other wastage items one uses on a daily basis can make the biggest difference.
This is a very interesting article and really gets me thinking about what is important to the world. What we really focus on and what should be focused on throughout the world is definitely something people don't see eye to eye with. I see this as being just way to dangerous and I hope something gets done about it. We can't just sit around and wait for something bad to happen like a death or serious illness.
ReplyDelete