A government report in 2003 said that there are more than 217,000 toxic sites in the US. 
 
 It goes on to say that most of these places will never be cleaned up enough to be safe. 
 
 Perpetual care for these places is not good enough. 
 
 The poisons will last longer than the safeguards.




How long is ‘long-term’?

The case studies in the full report include some nuclear waste sites. For these sites, perpetual care means 10,000 years. Arsenic is like nuclear waste in many ways. Both have no colour, taste, or odour. Both may cause death. Both can be breathed in or eaten. The dangers from these two toxic wastes are not easy to see.




In fall 2010, Alternatives North hired Dr. Joan Kuyek to do a study. Giant Mine in Yellowknife, Canada, has 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide to take care of. There is a plan to freeze this arsenic, so it can’t leak out and hurt the people and the land. For the Environmental Assessment of this plan, Alternatives North asked for a study of how contaminants are managed in other places.

http://www.miningwatch.ca/perpetual_care_report