[CPEO-BIF] Mercury from [California's] Gold Rush days reaching land below old mines

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Mercury from Gold Rush days reaching land below old mines

Traci Watson
USA TODAY
October 28, 2013

There really is gold in them thar hills, but there's something else  
in California's ridges, and in its valleys as well: mercury, a toxic  
legacy of the Gold Rush that will last for thousands of years.

Scientists have found high levels of mercury, which miners used to  
extract gold, in the foothills and valleys below former gold mines in  
California's Sierra Nevada range. Once in the valleys, the mercury  
can enter the food chain and could eventually make its way to San  
Francisco Bay. There's evidence that the poisonous chemical continues  
to ooze out of the Earth and travel to vulnerable ecosystems.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/28/mercury-gold- 
rush-california/3191565/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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