[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[marsh2]

We have natural mercury on the Klamath - EX: Cinnabar Springs. But we do have some bleeding at old Gray Eagle Mine near Happy Camp.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

FF, "Mad as a hatter" came from the practice of using mercury to form the crowns of hats. Some BAD stuff. Peace and love, George.

[ryanjb2]

I once found a large vial of mercury on the side of a road. We shattered it, probably wasn't the best thing to do when looking back on the incident.

[The Shootist]

From there it flows to the Sacramento River, adding to the contamination that taints fish from the Sierra to the San Francisco Bay.

Wrong. Funny, a writer from a gold producing state should know better.

The mercury, being very dense, will find its way to the lowest point in the stream-bed. eventually it will work its way down to bed-rock where it will stratify, along with gold, lead, silver, platinum, iron and other dense metals.

While dredging for gold in North Georgia and the Carolinas I have personally removed (dredged up) ounces of liquid mercury from stream beds where it has lain, undisturbed, since at least the 1850s. These creeks and rivers are home to many species of fish, none of which are suffering from mercury poisoning.

[F.J. Mitchell]

So we are to pretend that had man not found where nature stashed all that Mercury in the earth, Natural flow from rain run off and the channels that rivers carve through hill and dell, would never have unsurfaced this menace to fish and man?

HORSE HOCKY!!!!!!!

[XHogPilot]

This article is a fear generator, using facts to confuse reality, with the potential outcome of placing huge tracts of California property in jeopardy.

Mercury in California waterways is a recognized and well known problem. When you purchase a fishing license in CA, CA Dept of Fish and Game also provides a free brochure of fishing regulations which includes a Public Health Advisory on Fish Consumption. (Sorry Mr. Lau, but are you fishing without a license?)

The scary statement: 30,000 abandoned mines statewide is later wittled down to mercury ore from about 240 mines statewide. But is this where the mercury is coming from? Almost all CA waterways mercury polution came from gold recovery efforts in the early 20th century. Gold dust has an affinity for mercury, and by running gold bearing mining ore slurry or river bottom sands across a mercury covered plate an amalgum rich in gold is created.

Huge dredges plied the waterways of California using this process to extract gold, with a resulting loss of mercury into the waterways. In fact, the discard of these huge dredges are also catagorized as mine tailings.

Numerous studies have been published on mercury in California's waterways, and they all conclude the huge percentage is from runoff from mercury amalgamation process in early California gold mining, not "Quick Silver" mine tailings.

[Kenny Bunk]

....potent neurotoxin that continues to bleed into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, fouling the food chain of the West Coast's largest estuary.

Well, this certainly explains the mental state of the average area resident and is a potential defense for that Peterson guy and his cement-anchor-satanic-nazi-surfer alibi. Also, these people also elected Condit AND accepted the election of the Barra woman, even though admitting her margin of victory was dead Mexicans ...dead illegal alien Mexicans.

I now forgive them everything, It wasn't pot. It wasn't the California school system. It was Mercury Poisoning. ref. "Mad as a Hatter."

[RandallFlagg]

"Mercury is like the crazy aunt that California has kept in the closet all these years," said Bill Jennings, head of the Deltakeeper environmental group. "The gold miners probably had no idea of the legacy they were leaving behind. Now, no one wants to acknowledge it exists."

And, you know what will be screaming from the mouths of the left in the next few weeks/months.....

"ARNOLD KNEW!!!!!"

[Publius6961]

We seem to have a rash of envirowhacko the-sky-is-falling articles lately.
I wish Bruce Ames from UC would reprint his seminal book about the presence of natural toxins in our environment.

Sure, mercury is scary, and I wouldn't want to eat the stuff on a regular basis, but this article is a hit piece at worse or an ignorant rant at best.
The problem is that it's easy to blame mining for the present level of mercury in the water, but since there is no benchmark level established prior to mining, the best we can say is that that it is not a good thing.

Knowledge of the hydrologic cycle confirms that percolation has always been with us and all that water eventually is subject to human use. It is silly to assert that the tailing of mercury ore is more polluting than mercury ore in its natural site.
Just like the asbestos panic ignores the profusion of serpentine exposed at the surface all over San Francisco.

The fact that measurement instruments have become sensitive to the point of absurdity does not validate the notion that the danger to humans has increased proportionally.

[Cultural Jihad]

State geologist Ron Churchill walks past the furnace, left, where miners used to roast mercury ore at the Abbott-Turkey Run mine near Clear Lake.

It would cost millions to stop the toxic runoff from the mercury tailings left behind, says Churchill, leaving the abandoned mine.

Bob Lau, a recent immigrant, fishes for bass on Brannan Island. Lau, who fishes for his family, hadn't heard about poll- ution alerts. "Mercury?" he said. "I don't know what that is."

What you need to know about mercury

What is methylmercury?

Methylmercury is an organic form of mercury easily taken up by microorganisms and passed up the food chain from fish to people. Natural processes in lakes and rivers convert mercury into methylmercury.

How does mercury get into the environment?

Some mercury is natural, coming from volcanoes and geothermal vents. In the United States, coal-fired power plants are the largest human source. Mercury falls into waterways and is converted into methylmercury. In California, the largest source is leftover mercury from the Gold Rush.

What is the threat?

Methylmercury attacks the central nervous system. At high enough levels, it can result in loss of coordination, blurred vision, blindness and hearing and speech impairment. It is especially dangerous for children and developing fetuses.

How can I be exposed to methylmercury?

The main exposure is from eating fish that have built up the toxin. Fish high on the food chain, such as swordfish, sharks and bass, tend to have the highest levels. The Food and Drug Administration advises pregnant women and women of childbearing age not to eat more than 12 ounces of store-bought fish weekly and to avoid eating fish they catch themselves.

Is drinking water a threat?

No. Methylmercury levels in drinking water are extremely low.

Has anyone been poisoned by mercury-laden fish in California?

Authorities have found no cases of poisoning yet, but they haven't launched a full investigation.

Where can I get more information?

The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment posts advisories on mercury. The Web site is www.oehha.ca.gov/fish/hg/.

Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

Graphic: Quicksilver quagmire [510k GIF]

[Looking for Diogenes]

"But you can't just fix a site and walk away from it," said Churchill. "Who is going to do the maintenance? And who will pay for it over the long haul?"

What happened to the mine owners? The simple rule in life is whoever makes a mess should clean it up.

[farmfriend]

Flagging you to last two articles I posted just incase you missed them.

[Porterville]

Everything is a ploy for the left to concentrate power by limiting supply.