EARTHWORKS

New report exposes the amount of ‘perpetual pollution’ from U.S. mines

Bonnie Gestring's avatar
By Bonnie Gestring

May 3, 2013

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This week we released a report that exposes, for the first time, the amount of contaminated water that will be generated by mining companies every year, in perpetuity.

After a lengthy review of government and company data, we discovered that 40 existing mines will generate 17-27 billion gallons of water every year, for centuries. It's a staggering amount - enough to fill 2 trillion water bottles - which would reach to the moon and back 54 times!

And, the problem is escalating.  Four new mines are under consideration that are expected, or at risk, of generating water pollution in perpetuity -- up to 16 billion gallons a year. 

Want to know more? Learn about the policy changes we recommend? Or find the mines in your state?  Here's the link: http://bit.ly/Polluting_Our_Future


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Tagged with: water pollution, perpetual pollution, mining

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