The Continuing Information People Send

Every time I start to think that maybe this is just "a scare", I get more information sent from enlightened folks. Then I reflect on how many "conservatives" laughed their hearts out at "Earth Day", and scoffed at Global Warming, voted against Environmental Protection acts, and actively blocked even the smallest of efforts if they in ANY way impacted revenues of anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Inoperative mercury mines fingered as a major source of mercury contamination in California waters
By Tim Stephens
Santa Cruz Currents Online Magazine


UCSC researchers collected water quality data at San Carlos Creek, which flows past the inoperative New Idria mercury mine.
The New Idria mercury mine near Pinnacles National Monument is one of dozens of inoperative mercury mines in the Coast Ranges of California. It had one of the longest periods of operation (from 1854 to 1972) and was the second largest mercury producer in North America. Now, UCSC researchers have measured significant amounts of toxic mercury leaching into a creek that flows past the mine site. ......
Read their entire article on line:
http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/00-01/11-06/pollution.html

Most chilling is the following:
"Preliminary results from other mine sites indicate that inoperative mercury mines are a major source of mercury pollution in bodies of water such as San Francisco Bay that consistently exceed water quality standards for the toxic element, Flegal said.........An important question not answered by this study is how far the mercury travels downstream from the mine. Studies in other locations have shown that metals from acid mine drainage can travel hundreds of miles downstream from their source, ...... But Ganguli said the amount that gets to the bay is probably insignificant compared to mercury inputs from sources much closer to the bay, such as the New Almaden mine in the Santa Cruz Mountains near San Jose. ...........Abu-Saba, who is working on regulations to control mercury pollution in San Francisco Bay, said he is convinced that the New Almaden mine is the biggest ongoing source of mercury in the bay."