Re: Phosphate mining

"Richard I. Gibson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> Jo Schaper wrote:
> > 
> >    It is the lack of educational balance which promotes the poster's 
> > question, as well as the polarization of enviromentalists vs 
> > industrialists in the States. Modern people have very little clue where 
> > the benefits of their modern lifestyle come from, and that there is a 
> > price for that. On the other hand, people want products cheaply, so the 
> > mineral/chemical companies do not feel they can afford to do any but the 
> > required minimum in environmental compliance and restoration after a 
> > resource is exploited and so forth. These standards are much lower in 
> > the States than in Europe. It is what drives a company to the cheapest 
> > and usually worst operating practice, which brings out the screaming and 
> > placard waving locals and environmentalists on the other side, instead 
> > of requiring slightly more expensive methods of mining, resulting in 
> > higher prices,(which should be gladly paid by the same 
> > environmental-professing folks) but more preservation of the land, and a 
> > better stewardship ethic all around.
> > 

Good Morning!

Thank you all for you exceptional comments and enlightenment!  That is
exactly why I asked.  I do not know.  I just live here and smell the
disgusting stuff and see what comes from this type of mining.  I am
just an average human being.... there is no racial slurs intended to
anyone (Please, don't twist what I question to bring in a tangent). 
Like the average, ignorant human being I like to know .... why?  But,
all is relative, isn't it?  Yes, 20 tons is not much but that was just
20 tons that I read about in the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace... "that 20 tons of a specialty chemical known as tributyl
phosphate, or TBP, was shipped from China to the North Koreans.  It
further stated that the chemical has both commercial and military
applications and U.S. intelligence officials believe the TBP will be
used to extract material for nuclear boms from the North Korea's
stockpile of spent nuclear reactor fuel.... The TBP also can be used
in the process of creating fuel for uranium based nuclear weapons,
according to arms specialists", so the article said.

Also, in another article published by the associated press it was said
North Korea said it was using plutonium extracted from some 8,000
spent nuclear fuel rods to make atomic bombs, which alarmed South
Korea and other Asian countires that feared assertion would jeopardize
efforts to resolve the nuclear dispute peacefully.  Then, another
article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune says that over 20 families (...
and no that is not many....)  but they are drinking bottled water
supplied by the state because water tests have shown their wells are
contaminated with boron, arsenic, radiation or sodium - some of which
significantly exceed state and federal health standards.  Why? 
Because of their close proximity to the phosphate mines.  The
Environmental Protection Commission has an update on its Website at
www.epchc.org.

Yes, I am concerned about our environment and yes, I do read articles
about my concerns and I will continue to ask questions.  I truly don't
mean to hurt anyones feelings or ruffle feathers and I certainly
wouldn't and don't object to anyone earning a living.  If my questions
and ignorance bothered anyone, for that I am sorry.  I would rather
risk being viewed as ignorant than remain so...... Could you, any of
you suggest better reading, more balanced... ? Is there anything I
could do to help?  All of humanity is a team!  And I love a good
baseball game.  No player is insignificant!  How about if I cover
HOMEBASE, ..... we'll win the game every time.
Thank you all for your concern...... 
Respectfully.

Carl E.



> > We seem incapable of the longer view here by working together instead of 
> > at short-sighted cross-purposes.  Phosphate mining is often in conflict 
> > with local groundwater resources (furnishes local drinking water) and 
> > the tourist industry in north Florida. This is a political powderkeg.
> > 
> > Perhaps the poster should work towards viable compromise, instead of 
> > citing statistics. Twenty tons of anything isn't very much in the big 
> > picture.
> 
> Kudos, Jo, for such a clear and consise statement of the problem.
> 
> regards
> dick gibson
> 
> 
> -- 
> _____________________________________
> Richard I. Gibson, Gibson Consulting
> Gravity-Magnetic-Geologic Interpretations
> http://www.gravmag.com
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