Medical Doctors, Physicians Address Public Health Threats in Upper Peninsula

Comment: UP of Michigan, has experience and pollution of mining!

By Gabriel CaplettMarch 20, 2009

Marquette, Michigan - Current pollution from past chemical, mining and military operations were addressed alongside the potential for continued public health threats posed by coal power generation and mining activities, Thursday, at the Women’s Federated Clubhouse, in Marquette.

The event, organized by the Great Lakes Health and Environment Action League (HEAL), featured presentations by area health professionals, toxicologists and university professors.

Event moderator, Gene Champagne, said the event was significant for many because public health concerns are “universal.”

“No one wants to be ill,” said Champagne. “We’re talking about the health, our own health, our parents, our children. That matters to everyone.”

Heavy Metals a Concern in Water and AirDr. Lisa Long, a family practitioner in Negaunee, discussed various heavy metals and their potential to affect human health.

According to Long, metals such as arsenic, lead, chromium, thallium and cadmium are commonly associated with mine-related pollution. Cadmium, which is also contained in sewage sludge fertilizers, as well as medical and household incinerated waste, is also commonly found in cigarettes.

“If you smoke, you’ve got twice the exposure as somebody who doesn’t,” said Long.

Although highly toxic, particularly to children and pregnant women, lead is also fairly common in everyday life.

“The only metal with more commercial uses is iron,” said Long.

According to Long, lead has a “sweet” taste and was commonly used by ancient Romans to sweeten cheap wine.

It is that sweetness that makes the metal attractive to young children exposed to the metal. Children absorb roughly fifty percent of lead they ingest, compared to only ten to fifteen percent for adults. The absorption rate is higher with airborne exposure to lead.

Dr. Alan Olson said that, for metals like lead, “zero tolerance should be the rule.”

Dr. Scott Emerson explaining how much lead the human body requires

Shawn Devlin, of Chocolay Township, disagreed. “When you argue for zero you lose credibility,”

Devlin said. “There are natural levels of all these things.”

Dr. Scott Emerson, a toxicologist and emergency room physician at Marquette General Hospital, responded that lead has no positive function in the human body and is only found in unsafe amounts as a result of industrial activities.

“There is no safe level for lead, period,” Emerson said.

Emerson also discussed the role of mercury in affecting public health near mining operations.

According to Emerson, high sulfate levels in water can assist in increasing concentrations of methyl mercury, a potential problem at Kennecott Mineral’s proposed Eagle Project mine and Humboldt milling facility, both in Marquette County.

Emerson describes methylated mercury as “the most dangerous neurotoxic form of mercury.

You get a very aggressive toxin that can go right into the brain and is very readily absorbed.”

According to Dr. Gail Griffith, professor emeritus of Northern Michigan University’s (NMU) chemistry department, coal-fired power plants are another source of mercury, which bio-accumulates in fish tissue and can cause serious human health problems, particularly in young children.

Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Clayton Peimer cautioned that exposure to “micro-particulates” can be hazardous even if the substance does not contain toxic elements like lead.

“If someone says to you “micro-particles,” go get a mask,” warned Peimer.

Dr. Emerson agreed, maintaining that air pollution “is much more dangerous and has much more impact on health than even the water pollution does”

This surprised Negaunee resident Laura Royea.

“The environmental concerns, the airborne pollutants were very important, the particulate matter,” said Royea. “I had not considered that. I always thought of runoff into the streams and, you know, I didn’t think of the things that become airborne and travel much farther.”

Audience Members at Your Water Your Health

Public Health Threats in the UPDr. Griffith discussed ongoing contamination at a number of sites throughout the Upper Peninsula, including the former Cliffs-Dow site that produced charcoal and wood distillate chemicals in the City of Marquette. The company’s dumps closed in the 1960s and eventually became federally-listed Superfund sites.

“You could always tell when they were cleaning out the stills because you could smell it,” said Griffith

For over fifty years, Cleveland Cliffs International (now Cliffs Natural Resources) released mercury from it’s Ishpeming laboratories into the city’s wastewater. That mercury found its way to Deer Lake.

“Some fish of some types from some bodies of water you should never ever eat and that is Deer Lake, for example,” said Griffith.

Griffith explained current public health threats posed by other sites, such as Torch Lake, near Houghton, and the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, northeast of Gwinn. Although the air force complex was closed in the early 1990s, underground storage tanks, landfills, munitions testing areas and fuel spills continue to threaten groundwater quality.

“As we speak there is still a plume of jet fuel headed for Silver Lead Creek,” Griffith said.

Griffith also discussed problems associated with radioactive materials. Republic is considered a “hotspot” for radon, the second major cause of lung cancer, after smoking.

In the 1990s, a survey of Republic homes showed that eighty-four percent exceeded maximum exposure levels for the dangerous gas.

A different radioactive element, uranium, has been found in residential wells along the Keweenaw Peninsula, prompting exploration companies to explore for the substance near Lake Gogebic.

“So far they’ve found a little sniff of it but not very much,” said Griffith.

According to NMU sociology professor, Dr. Patricia Cianciolo, new uranium and metallic mining proposals have received some support due to the potential for increased job creation.

“People leave this area when they are young because there is a lack of jobs,” said Cianciolo.

Cianciolo said the lack of regional mine employment pales when compared to the potential threat to residential wells and aquifers from metallic sulfide and uranium mining projects in the western UP.

“It’s just profound to see how close the potential mine sites would be to our major water supplies,” said Cianciolo.

Flambeau Mine Still PollutingMining was also a strong theme in Dr. Emerson’s presentation.

Emerson explained that Kennecott Mineral’s closed Flambeau copper mine, in Wisconsin, polluted the nearby Flambeau River and continues to discharge high levels of unregulated heavy metals.

“The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior,” Emerson explained. “Kennecott, in general, has not left a good footprint when they have had past mining.”

Emerson said that high levels of manganese have been of particular concern at the Flambeau site. Chronic exposure “basically causes a schizophrenic type psychotic illness which can progress to motor abnormalities and Parkinson’s-type disease,” Emerson said.

“Although they did test the Flambeau River all the testing was done above where the most contaminated stream was in confluence with the Flambeau River,” said Emerson.

“There seems to be some real regulatory failure on the part of the State of Wisconsin on this.”

Marquette resident Brenda Hershey said that the information on Flambeau made her “more concerned.”

“When the research showed they were above levels they just stopped the research,” said Hershey. “How can we base decisions about Marquette [County] on information that is not complete?”

According to Emerson, despite high levels of “indicator” metals, such as copper and zinc, studies for lead and other heavy metal contamination at the Flambeau mine site were not presented to the public.

Studies conducted by Colorado-based Stratus Consulting showed that, based on Flambeau results, Kennecott’s proposed Eagle mine could have lead levels nine times what is allowed in the mining permit issued by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality as well as high levels of cadmium, which can cause kidney damage.

“This is at best regulatory incompetence and, at worst, highly unethical shenanigans on the part of the DEQ,” said Emerson.According to HEAL’s website, the group “is an information warehouse focused on water and air quality and related environmental health topics in the Great Lakes Basin” and sees it’s role as a facilitator of “user-friendly” information between the citizens and science and health professionals.

This entry was written by savethewildup and posted on March 25, 2009 at 1:26 pm and filed under Health, News, Science. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
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Toxic Chemical Releases Down Overall, Mercury and PCBs Up

Comment: Is this our county future, bad water?

WASHINGTON, DC, March 19, 2009 (ENS) -

The U.S. EPA's most recent data on the amount of toxic chemicals released into the U.S. environment shows an overall decrease of five percent in releases in the year from 2006 to 2007. Releases to air decreased seven percent and releases to water decreased five percent.

While the report shows an overall improvement in toxic releases, it also shows a one percent increase in releases of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals like lead, dioxin, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs.

The increases were primarily due to a handful of facilities, the EPA said.

PCB releases went up 40 percent between 2006 and 2007, the Inventory shows. The EPA banned the production of PCBs in the United States in 1979 and disposing of it safely to permitted, hazardous waste landfills is the final step in removing it from use.

Total disposal or other releases of mercury increased 38 percent, but air emissions of mercury were down three percent.

The majority of mercury releases were reported by the mining industry.

Acidophilic microbes thrive in this biofilm growing inside an abandoned mine at Iron Mountain, California.

The microbes create toxic acid mine drainage, an environmental problem associated with coal and uranium mining.

Dioxin releases or disposal increased 11 percent.

Lead releases increased by one percent, most released by the mining industry to land.

"This information underscores the need for fundamental transparency and provides a powerful tool for protecting public health and the environment," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

"Serving the public's right to know is the crucial first step in reducing toxic chemicals in the places where we live, work, and raise children."

This year's annual publication of the Toxics Release Inventory includes 650 chemicals from 22,000 facilities. It reports toxics managed in landfills and underground injection wells as well as those released into water and the air.

The annual Inventory provides the American public with information on chemical releases to communities and is intended as a tool that industry can use to gauge its progress in reducing pollution.

"I'm also pleased," Jackson said, "that Congress under the leadership of Senator [Frank] Lautenberg took action to restore the rigorous reporting standards of this vital program."

On March 11, President Barack Obama signed into law the FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act, which includes a provision authored by Senator Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, to reinstate stronger requirements on the reporting of toxic chemical releases.

The Lautenberg measure overturned a December 2006 Bush administration rule limiting the reporting of these toxic emissions.

"The public has a right to know about chemicals in their air and water.

The Bush administration watered down this law and let facilities hide critical data about their toxic chemical emissions.

It is time to restore the public's right to know about the release of toxic chemicals in their communities," said Senator Lautenberg, who authored the legislation that created the 1986 Right-to-Know program.

The Toxics Release Inventory tracks the chemicals and industrial sectors specified by the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986 and its amendments.

The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 also requires that Toxics Release Inventory reports include data on toxic chemicals treated on-site, recycled, and burned for energy recovery.

MSHA puts 15 operators on notice for potential pattern of violations

By Fred PaceRegister-Herald reporter

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced Monday that 15 mine operators from around the country have received letters putting them on notice that each has a potential pattern of violations of mandatory health or safety standards under Section 104(e) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act).

“The 13 coal mines and two metal/nonmetal mines represent the fourth round of mine operators to receive these letters under MSHA’s enhanced enforcement initiative,” said Michael A. Davis, MSHA’s deputy assistant secretary for operations.

“Hopefully, these operators will use this opportunity to incorporate needed improvements into their safety and health programs.”

A mine operator that has a potential pattern of recurrent significant and substantial (S&S) violations at a mine receives written notification from MSHA.

An S&S violation is one that could reasonably be expected to lead to a serious injury or illness.

The operator has an opportunity to review and comment on the documents upon which the potential pattern of violations is based and to develop a corrective action plan to reduce S&S violations in order to reverse the potential pattern.

MSHA will closely monitor each affected mine’s compliance record during the ensuing 90 days. If an operator significantly reduces its violation frequency rate, it can avoid being issued a Notice of a Pattern of Violations pursuant to Section 104(e) of the Mine Act.

If the improvement falls short of the criteria, MSHA will issue the notice.

For each S&S violation subsequently found, MSHA will issue an order withdrawing miners from the affected area until the cited condition has been corrected.An operator can be removed from a pattern of violations when 1) an inspection of the entire mine is completed and no S&S violations are found or 2) no withdrawal order is issued by MSHA in accordance with Section 104(e)(1) of the Mine Act within 90 days of the issuance of the pattern notice.

MSHA used data from the 24 months ending Dec. 31, 2008, to identify the mines with a potential pattern of violations.

Here is a list of mines that received notifications:

Big River Mining LLC, Broad Run Mine, W.Va.; Stollings Trucking Co. Inc., Surface No. 1, W.Va.; Independence Coal Co. Inc., Liberty Processing, W.Va.; Elk Run Coal Co. Inc., Castle Mine, W.Va.;

Keokee Mining LLC, #1 Minem, Va.; Snapco Inc., Mine No. 2, Va.; Banner Blue Coal Co., Paw Paw Mine, Va.; Double A Mining Inc.,

#4, Ky.; North Star Mining Inc., #5A, Ky.; Rockhouse Energy Mining Co., Mine #1, Ky.; Century Operations LLC, Butcher Branch, Ky.; Blue Diamond Coal Co., #77, Ky.;

Hidden Splendor Resources Inc., Horizon Mine, Utah; Celite Corp.,

Lompoc Plant, Diatomaceous Earth, Calif.; and Newmont USA Limited, Leeville, Nev.

Report: Region has apt mining work force

Comment: Uranium mining will likely destroy more job opportunities than it creates. The few jobs created are short-term and extremely hazardous. Jobs are based on demand for uranium, if the price of uranium falls, workers are laid off, price goes up, back to work - unsteady income. Plus, the people who work in uranium mines will face a serious risk of developing lung cancer and premature aging when their exposure to radiation is within the permissible limits.

By John CranePublished: February 7, 2009
A report on the Coles Hill uranium deposit near Chatham says Southside Virginia has the skilled work force needed for mining and milling uranium.
Local workers’ comfort with farming and heavy equipment provides the attributes necessary for miners, according to the report, titled Technical Report on Coles Hill Uranium Property.

It was conducted by Behre Dolbear & Co. LTD., Marshall Miller and Associates Inc. and PAC Geological Consulting Inc. The report, known as a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report, is required by the Canadian Securities Administrators. It was submitted by Virginia Uranium Inc.’s minority investor, Santoy Resources of Vancouver.

“We are all painfully aware of the unemployment figures in the city of Danville, Pittsylvania, Halifax and Henry counties, where we could expect to draw the bulk of our 400-500 workers, if the Commonwealth of Virginia decides to permit the development of the Coles Hill resource,” Norm Reynolds, president and chief executive officer of VUI, said in a statement.

The report is a reference tool for potential investors wanting to confirm VUI officials’ claims about Coles Hill. VUI wants to mine and mill the uranium deposit at Coles Hill.
“It’s sort of like an auditor auditing your books,” Reynolds said during an interview Friday.

However, Jack Dunavant, the chairman of Southside Concerned Citizens, said he is “highly skeptical” of the report, adding that farm work and mining are not the same. Dunavant, a civil engineer, said there’s a difference between driving a truck on a farm and maneuvering one in a circle around a vertical mine shaft at a steep angle.

“It’s a pretty dangerous type of job,” he said.

Patrick Wales, VUI spokesman and geologist, cited Danville’s double-digit unemployment and called the report good news for the Danville area. The report also states that the engineering and geology departments at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg can “provide high-quality employees.”

The report confirms old report data VUI had purchased from Marline Uranium, as well as data VUI had collected at Coles Hill, Reynolds said. The firms began work on the report in November 2007 and completed it in September 2008. The 81-page report was released Thursday. The report includes analysis of core samples from Coles Hill. Reynolds said VUI drilled nine samples, with some that Marline had drilled about 30 years ago re-drilled by VUI.

It confirms that the uranium ore deposit is 119 million pounds and that there are 1.5 pounds of uranium per ton of rock. The report also states that the deposit is “relatively clean,” and is absent of heavy metals typically found in uranium deposits in the southwestern U.S., Wales said.

Cameco Corporation: Cigar Lake Re-visited!

Comment: A Flooded Modern Uranium Mine

Posted By Uranium Stocks On February 6, 2009 @ 10:57 pm In Uranium Mining

Friday, February 13, 2009 is a date for your diary, as ominous as it may be, as that is when Cameco will publish its next quarterly news release containing a summary of the progress being made at Cigar Lake. As a reminder this it what Cameco said in its last quarterly news release in 2008.

On August 12, 2008, Cameco suspended remediation work in shaft 1 at Cigar Lake after an increase in the rate of water inflow to the mine.We are continuing to investigate the source of the inflow. Based on the information collected to date, we have identified a potential source at the 420 metre level of the shaft.

This area was developed many years ago to assess the practicality of developing a working level above the orebody. This proved to not be feasible due to poor ground conditions. A concrete bulkhead was put in place and the remainder of the level was subsequently used for minor mine infrastructure and storage.

Our investigation is currently focused on this area. However, we continue to review the area in and around the plug that was poured subsequent to the October 2006 inflow, as well as the two areas where it was previously determined additional precautionary measures were not necessary. Information collected to date does not suggest any problem in these areas.

Submersible remotely operated vehicles (ROV) are being deployed in the mine to explore the potential sources, provide visual and sonar imaging of the mine workings and measure parameters like water flow and temperature. At the same time, we are pumping water from the mine to create water flow to assist in identification of the inflow source. While the work is time consuming (some items like doors and pipes have to be cut away to allow the ROVs access), it is progressing steadily and providing good information to the investigation team.

Once the source of the inflow is identified, we will develop a remediation plan.

Progress on the remediation of shaft 2 continues. The inflow sources have been sealed and the effectiveness of the seal has been demonstrated. The shaft is now ready for dewatering and will be scheduled as part of the overall remediation plan for Cigar Lake.

In order to keep our stakeholders informed on the progress of remediation activities, we will provide updates with each quarterly MD&A or more frequently if there are significant developments.

Hopefully Cameco will have determined the source of water ingress in shaft 1 and have compiled at least an outline plan of action for its containment. On shaft 2 its fingers crossed that the seals are still holding, however it is not clear to us just when the dewatering will commence, hopefully this next update will contain a little more detail of the engineering problems, the alternative solutions available and an outline schedule for the works to completion.

The provision of a doable schedule and an achievable end date would give investors a well deserved boost. Its now a case of watch this space!

Over the last month or so Cameco’s stock price has deteriorated from around the $24.00 level to close yesterday at $20.00 so we are looking for some good news in order to reverse this downward trend.

Cameco Corporation has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a 52 week high of C$44.38 and a 52 week low of C$14.33, turnover yesterday was 3.67 million shares and trades as CCO on the Toronto Stock Exchange and as CCJ on the New York Stock Exchange.

For disclosure purposes we do not own this uranium stock.