Lead Ore Milling 1934 US Bureau of Mines

markdcatlin

Uploaded on Dec 17, 2010

Nestled deep within the eastern Ozarks is an area known as the Old Lead Belt; it is a major part of the great Southeast Missouri lead district, the premier lead mining district of the world. The mining industry in this area has played an important role in Missouri’s economic and social fabric for more than 280 years. St. Joseph Lead Co. is one of the major corporate enterprises that came to Missouri to mine lead. Lead and zinc production involved crushing and grinding the mined rock to standard sizes and separating the ore. This left behind piles of leftover rock called tailings that covered 4,000 acres in southeastern Cherokee County. These wastes were also a source of contamination. Lead, zinc, and cadmium from the tailings leached into the shallow ground water, contaminating local wells, and runoff moved contaminants into nearby streams and rivers. Wind also blew fine metal-bearing dust (from tailings piles and roads made of tailings) into the air, spreading the contamination to nearby non-mined areas. Radon gas from the mining operations was detected in the air around Galena. During the 1980’s, this area was considered one of the most environmentally blighted in the nation. Some of the cleanup efforts are funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund.

The EPA began working in the area in the early 1980’s and work is ongoing. The EPA divided the Cherokee County Site into six subsites that correspond to six general mining locations, including the areas around Galena, Baxter Springs, and Treece, Kansas. Because the area in and around Galena had some of the worst contamination, early cleanup efforts were centered there. Chief among these was the provision of safe water supply for rural residents whose wells had been contaminated. Two new wells were constructed in the deep aquifer, and a new rural water district was formed that currently provides over 500 households with a long-term source of clean drinking water. From 1997 to 1999, contaminated soil was removed from 602 residential properties in Galena and replaced with clean backfill and grass sod or seed; fifty additional properties were remediated in 2000 and 2001. Remediation of residential soils has been completed in Treece and is ongoing in Baxter Springs. Cleanup continues at other sites in southeastern Kansas. For more information, check the EPA Region 7’s website: http://www.epa.gov/region07/index.html . It does not matter if a person breathes in, swallows, or absorbs lead particles, the health effects are the same; however, the body absorbs higher levels of lead when it is breathed in. Within our bodies, lead is absorbed and stored in our bones, blood, and tissues. It does not stay there permanently, rather it is stored there as a source of continual internal exposure. Lead poisoning can happen if a person is exposed to very high levels of lead over a short period of time.

When this happens, a person may feel: Abdominal pain, Constipated, Excessively tired, Headache, Irritable, Loss of appetite, Memory loss, Pain or tingling in the hands and/or feet and Weak. Because these symptoms may occur slowly or may be caused by other things, lead poisoning can be easily overlooked as their cause. Being exposed to high levels of lead may cause anemia, weakness, and kidney and brain damage. Very high lead exposure can cause death. A person who is exposed to lead over time may feel: Abdominal pain, Constipated, Depressed, Distracted, Forgetful, Irritable, Nauseous/Sick. People with prolonged exposure to lead may also be at risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, and reduced fertility.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have determined that lead is probably cancer-causing in humans. This clip is from the 1934 US Bureau of Mines film (made in cooperation with the St. Joseph Lead Company), THE STORY OF LEAD MINING AND MILLING. The entire film shows mining and milling operations in Southeast Missouri after diamond drills have located a lead vein. The film also shows the dairy, school, hospital, and offices of the St. Joseph Lead Company. The entire film is available at the US National Archives in Maryland.

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A Story Of Lead (1948)

A/V Geeks

Published on Sep 4, 2012

Story Of Lead (1948)
Portrays mining operations in the lead belt of southeast Missouri–the crushing of ore, smelting, refining and other steps in the production of pig lead.

Help us get more films like this online! This film was digitized and uploaded by the A/V Geeks thanks to contributions to this project: http://www.avgeeks.com/wp2/avgeeks100…

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Our National Lead Problem Is Bigger Than Flint | On Point

February 18, 2016 at 11:00 AM

Flint, Michigan is in the news for lead in the water. But there’s lead – and higher levels – all over this country. We’ll dig in.

The Flint Water Plant tower is seen, Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 in Flint, Mich. Flint is under a public health emergency after its drinking water became tainted when the city switched from the Detroit system and began drawing from the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. The city was under state management at the time. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The lead in the water in Flint, Michigan is appalling, frightening. The whole country’s finally focused on it. But the fact is, there are serious lead threats, problems, all over this country. And no small number – maybe in your community – are worse than Flint’s. Lead can cut IQ, retard development, breed behavioral problems, even crime. And very often, we just let it flow. This hour On Point, the map of America by lead problems, way beyond Flint. And what to do about it.

— Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Steve Carmody, Mid-Michigan reporter for Michigan Radio. (@scarmody)

Dr. Maitreyi Mazumdar, neurology specialist at the Boston Children’s Hospital. Assitant professor of neurology and environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Gerald Markowitz, public health historian. Professor of history at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Co-author, with David Rosner, of “Lead Wars” and “Deceit and Denial.”

Erik Olson, director of the health and environmental program at the National Resources Defense Council, where he is also the senior strategic director of the food and agriculture program.

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“Thirsty for Democracy: The Poisoning of an American City”: Special Report on Flint’s Water Crisis – (full five part sequence)

Democracy Now!

Published on Feb 17, 2016

http://democracynow.org – Today, we go to Flint, Michigan, for a Democracy Now! special on the ongoing Flint water crisis. In 2014, an unelected emergency manager appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder switched the source of the city’s drinking water from the Detroit system, which they’d been using for half a century, to the corrosive Flint River. Soon, residents were complaining about discolored and foul-smelling water, which was plagued by a host of problems. First, the water was infested with bacteria. Then it had cancerous chemicals called trihalomethanes, or TTHMs. A deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which is caused by a water-borne bacteria, spread throughout the city, killing 10 people. And quietly, underground, the Flint River water was corroding the city’s aging pipes, poisoning the drinking water with lead, which can cause permanent developmental delays and neurological impairment, especially in children. Since the news about the lead poisoning broke last October, a slew of Michigan public officials have been ousted, the FBI has opened an investigation, and a special counsel for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office has announced top officials, including Governor Rick Snyder, could face criminal charges, including manslaughter. Well, this past weekend, we went to Flint to learn the remarkable story of how the governor and other officials ignored residents’ complaints for a year and a half, and how the city fought back—with protests, citizen journalism, a new mayor and a massive resident testing project.

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Michigan’s Water Wars: Nestlé Pumps Millions of Gallons for Free While Flint Pays fo r Poisoned Water

Democracy Now!

Published on Feb 17, 2016

http://democracynow.org – As Flint residents are forced to drink, cook with and even bathe in bottled water, while still paying some of the highest water bills in the county for their poisoned water, we turn to a little-known story about the bottled water industry in Michigan. In 2001 and 2002, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued permits to Nestlé, the largest water bottling company in the world, to pump up to 400 gallons of water per minute from aquifers that feed Lake Michigan. This sparked a decade-long legal battle between Nestlé and the residents of Mecosta County, Michigan, where Nestlé’s wells are located. One of the most surprising things about this story is that, in Mecosta County, Nestlé is not required to pay anything to extract the water, besides a small permitting fee to the state and the cost of leases to a private landowner. In fact, the company received $13 million in tax breaks from the state to locate the plant in Michigan. The spokesperson for Nestlé in Michigan is Deborah Muchmore. She’s the wife of Dennis Muchmore—Governor Rick Snyder’s chief of staff, who just retired and registered to be a lobbyist. We speak with Peggy Case, Terry Swier and Glenna Maneke of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation.

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Inside How Citizens, Journalists, Doctors & Scientists Exposed the Flint Water Crisis Cover-Up

Democracy Now!

Published on Feb 17, 2016

http://democracynow.org – We speak with Curt Guyette of the ACLU of Michigan. He is an investigative reporter who was just named Michigan Journalist of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. He talks about the citizen-led effort to prove, despite assurances by state officials, the Flint water supply was contaminated with lead.

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Meet the Flint Official Whose Bid to Restore Safe Drinking Water Was Blocked by an Unelected Manager

Democracy Now!

Published on Feb 17, 2016

http://democracynow.org – To learn more about how how Flint ended up with an unelected emergency manager, we spoke with Flint City Councilmember Eric Mays. Eleven months ago, in March 2015, the City Council voted seven to one on his resolution to stop using water from the corrosive Flint River. The city’s unelected emergency manager Jerry Ambrose rejected the proposal. He said, “It is incomprehensible to me that (seven) members of the Flint City Council would want to send more than $12 million a year to the system serving Southeast Michigan, even if Flint ratepayers could afford it. (Lake Huron) water from Detroit is no safer than water from Flint.”

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What Did GM & the Governor Know? GM Stopped Using Flint Water Over a Year Before Emergency Declared

Democracy Now!

Published on Feb 17, 2016

http://democracynow.org – In October 2014, General Motors recognized the Flint water was corroding its engines. They got permission from the city’s unelected emergency manager–who was appointed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder–to disconnect from Flint’s water and go back to Detroit water. It would be another year before the people of Flint were finally allowed to disconnect from the corrosive Flint River as their water supply and hook up again to the Detroit water system. By then, the Flint River water had corroded the city’s aging pipes, poisoning the drinking water with lead, which can cause permanent developmental delays and neurological impairment, especially in children. We speak with a GM autoworker in Flint about the company’s actions once it realized that Flint’s water was corroding car engines.

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Dark Money: Jane Mayer on How Koch Bros. & Billionaire Allies Funded Rise of the Far Right

Democracy Now!

Published on Jan 20, 2016

http://democracynow.org – Democrats and Republicans are expected to spend about $1 billion getting their 2016 nominee elected. There’s a third group that will spend almost as much. It’s not a political party, and it doesn’t have any candidates. It’s the right-wing political network backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David Koch, expected to spend nearly $900 million in 2016. The Kochs’ 2016 plans come as part of an effort to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to conservative candidates and causes over the last four decades. The story of the Koch brothers and an allied group of billionaire donors is told in a new book by New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer, “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.” Mayer traces how the Kochs and other billionaires have leveraged their business empires to shape the political system in the mold of their right-wing agenda.

Part 2

Part 3

Further interview about “discrediting” the Jane Mayer:

How the Kochs Tried (and Failed) to Discredit Reporter Jane Mayer After She Exposed their Empire

See also: Koch Brothers documentation

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Keep It in the Ground: Author Terry Tempest Williams Buys 1,750 Acres of Oil & Gas Leases in Utah

Democracy Now!

Published on Feb 18, 2016

http://democracynow.org – In Utah, more than 100 protesters disrupted a federal auction of oil and gas leases, spontaneously bursting into song until they were forced to leave. Author and activist Terry Tempest Williams, registered as Bidder 19, successfully bought rights to 1,750 acres of land to spare it from fossil fuel extraction. When asked by a Bureau of Land Management official if she was making a “legitimate bid for energy development,” Tempest Williams said: “You can’t define what energy is for us. Our energy development is fueling a movement.” Terry Tempest Williams joins us from Salt Lake City.

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