This BBC article on Baotou looks awful.
But, after seeing how the “media” covers the oil sands and fracking, I’m not quite willing to believe it.
h/t, Rob
This BBC article on Baotou looks awful.
But, after seeing how the “media” covers the oil sands and fracking, I’m not quite willing to believe it.
h/t, Rob
If the green movement had a hell, this would be it; and I gather there is no plan for reclamation either. Nope, but our oil sands are pure evil.
But China’s communist dictatorship is so admirable, for the way they can just deal with environmental problems by fiat, rather than having to go through all that messy democracy stuff first, or so Shiny Pony was saying recently. BTW, amelioration/restoration of mine tailings is pretty easy, technologically speaking.
I agree that the piece is likely sensationalism at its worst. It might contain an element of truth to it, or more. Given the communist nation’s record of environmental stewardship, I’d be more inclined to be worried about this mess than anything you see in the oilsands.
If nothing else, the next time one of your Greenie buddies post another hit piece on the oilsands or any other resource industry here in Canada, respond with this.
I’m skeptical for a number of reasons. The photos do not show mass production units, rather I suspect the most unedifying shots they could find. Also, these ponces have just been flown around the world in luxury to bitch about the industry that makes that luxury possible.
The guy has no appreciation of industrial processes and the Chinese don’t give a f*ck what he thinks.
I’m inclined to accept this largely on the basis that I have been to both Shanghai and Beijing on days where the pollution was so bad it physically hurt to be outside and breathe. And that’s in the crown jewels of the country. I can’t even imagine what goes on in the hinterlands.
Robert of Ottawa is correct that there’s a lot overblown in this article. And a lot of the information is simply not correct. Yes the site is heavily polluted, this is China. But nowhere does it mention that this so-called lake is not a lake at all but a tailing pond artificially created. This is a desert after all, so there’s no natural standing water. Second, the notion that radiation is three times background levels is meaningless. I can find dozens of locations around the world with radiation levels up to 100 times normal background levels, all of it natural. And at a mere three times, it poses no risk.
And “rare earths” are not called that because of scarcity. They are all members of the lanthanide series of elements. They used to be produced in lots of places, particularly the US. But other sources of supply have shut down over the past three decades or so.
Well, it’s just a tailings pond, albeit a large one. They didn’t even pollute a natural lake. They created an artificial one. And Omigod! “Three times background radiation, eleventy!!!” Except normal background radiation is so tiny, that three times as much is still tiny.
So the tailings pond will continue to grow until the mines are exhausted, and the mining and processing moves to some other site. Then they can let the water in the pond dry up, and use cats to push a few meters of earth and gravel over the top of it, and a layer of topsoil, and turn it into pasture, or whatever.
But perhaps that tailings pond will be regarded as a valuable resource at some point in the future, when new technology makes some currently-worthless component of those tailings a valuable commodity.
Frankly, I am more concerned with the air pollution created by China Inc. The land pollution of that tailings pond may be complete and irreversible, but it is also very local.
The sad part is thousands, maybe tens of thousands, will read this article, see the photos and form totally misinformed opinions as has happened with the oil sands.
“…The guy has no appreciation of industrial processes and the Chinese don’t give a f*ck what he thinks.”
Which reminds me, for all the faults and flaws of the Chinese government, it has some redeeming qualities.
LOL
I have to say I was impressed, even astounded by the sheer scale of industry to the west of the city. Try Google Earth and zoom in to really get an idea of the scope of factories, power plants, chimneys, cooling towers, railroads etc.
One wouldn’t think of something like this in Mongolia, but there it is.
BTW, my wife and I were in Beijing in May a couple years back and it began to snow. My wife was wearing a dark nylon jacket and every snowflake that fell left a small greyish residue as it melted. That’s how polluted the air in Beijing is in springtime.
There is something else missed here… the author mentions in incredible explosion of population in the region. That means people went there and got jobs. In other words, in human terms, this is prosperity. It actually looks somewhat like late 19th century industrial revolution prosperity – that incredible movement that lifted a huge chunk of the world’s population out of poverty.
“…..But perhaps that tailings pond will be regarded as a valuable resource at some point in the future,……”
I recall seeing in the ’50’s…..a huge slag heap near Sudbury, that was allegedly purchased by German interests prior to WW2 but never taken.
It has since gone…reprocessed for scare elements….