mining industry

Whitman's Dear Mining Industry is Already America's #1 Toxic Polluter
04-May-02
mining industry

On Friday, Christie Todd Whitman gave the mining industry the right to escalate its destruction of the American environment - not that it wasn't doing the job already. In fact, 2001 was the second consecutive year that the industry was the NUMBER ONE toxic polluter in the nation. Last year, mining operations contributed nearly half the 7.4 billion pounds of toxic wastes released by all U.S. industries combined. This toxic assault includes 585 million pounds of arsenic and arsenic compounds - a whopping 97% of all arsenic released! In addition, mining now contaminates 40% of the headwaters of all Western watersheds - a staggering 12,000 miles of America's rivers and streams and 180,000 acres of lakes. Why is she flushing us down the toilet? Simple - because the Whitmans own stock in the mining industry.