fun things we learned in Biology
May 19th, 2009 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ara_chanYou know how the crazy tree-huggers are always bashing people who shop at WalMart (the store of apathy) and say we need to buy local, etc, etc. No thank you! Here's why:
From the late 1950s through 1977, Westinghouse Electric used PCBs in the manufacture of capacitors in its Bloomington, Indiana plant. Reject capacitors were hauled and dumped in area salvage yards and landfills. Workers also dumped PCB oil down factory drains which contaminated the city sewage treatment plant. The City of Bloomington gave away the sludge to area farmers and gardeners, creating anywhere from 200 to 2000 sites which remain unaddressed. Over 2 million pounds of PCBs were estimated to have been dumped in Monroe and Owen Counties, which would make it the biggest concentration of PCBs in the world.
In the mid-80's, they finally agreed that maybe this was a Bad Thing, and as of 2008, there were still contaminated sites in town. According to sources, the water in Martinsville (~15 minutes from here) still isn't safe to drink, though they don't really announce that to anyone.
From the late 1950s through 1977, Westinghouse Electric used PCBs in the manufacture of capacitors in its Bloomington, Indiana plant. Reject capacitors were hauled and dumped in area salvage yards and landfills. Workers also dumped PCB oil down factory drains which contaminated the city sewage treatment plant. The City of Bloomington gave away the sludge to area farmers and gardeners, creating anywhere from 200 to 2000 sites which remain unaddressed. Over 2 million pounds of PCBs were estimated to have been dumped in Monroe and Owen Counties, which would make it the biggest concentration of PCBs in the world.
In the mid-80's, they finally agreed that maybe this was a Bad Thing, and as of 2008, there were still contaminated sites in town. According to sources, the water in Martinsville (~15 minutes from here) still isn't safe to drink, though they don't really announce that to anyone.
(no subject)
Date: May 20th, 2009 03:29 am (UTC)Though that is kind of nasty.