We, the US taxpayers, have just bought Treece, KS in the southeast corner of Cherokee County. It cost around 3 million dollars. Around 100 people still live there so each of them will get around $30,000. If each person in the US actually had to pay their fair share right now it would cost each of us about 1 cent. Since there wouldn’t be enough room for all 300 million of us to live there and since the town is too polluted for anyone to live in we don’t actually have to move. Lucky us.
No so lucky for them. Most of them have lead poisoning. Lots of people in that part of Kansas probably also have lead poisoning. The vast majority of the lead and zinc mines closed over 30 years ago but the mess they left is still there. In 1983 the area was declared a superfund site.
115 square miles containing enormous piles of what looks like gravel, except its not. Its called Chat, mountainous piles of dirt filled with lead, zinc and cadmium particles. These heavy metals become air born and land in school yards and backyards where kids play. Kids get the toxic metals on their clothing and hands and it works it way into their bodies: lead poisoning.
To date about $90 million has been spent to clean up the mess left by the mining companies. The mining companies that haven’t disappeared and/or closed down and/or are hiding were forced to pay for about 10% of the cost. It will take another 15 years and $70 million to finish the clean up. So in total it will take almost 40 years and approximately $160 million dollars to make Cherokee County “safe’ to live in again. Who would actually want to live there? No me and I am guessing, but probably not you.
Please join me in raising our glasses of NON-plastic bottled water in a hopeful toast that our current plan for reducing the causes of and the effects of global warming does not mimic the previous plan used to clean up superfund sites. Because if it does we can kiss our planet goodbye.
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