Grrrr. This will really make you furious.

[cali]

Gold mine wants court to OK dumping waste in lake
WASHINGTON – A lawyer representing an Alaska gold mine urged the Supreme Court on Monday to uphold the mine owner's permit even though he acknowledged that the company's plan to dump metal waste into a nearby lake would kill all aquatic life.

But mining company lawyer Theodore Olson told justices that the waste is more accurately defined as "fill." And, after a decade or more of mining, he said, the lake could be restocked with no permanent harm to the environment.

"There will be more fish in a bigger lake, and more livable conditions for the fish and the aquatic life after this process is finished," Olson said.

Justice David Souter called that logic "Orwellian." He said the mining company, Coeur Alaska Inc., and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which granted a permit for the mine, were "defining away" the problem by calling the wastewater discharge fill.

"When you are destroying the entire living (bodies) of this lake, it seems to me that it's getting Orwellian to say there are rigorous environmental standards," Souter said.

Other justices appeared to disagree, noting that an alternative to the dumping would destroy nearby wetlands and create a stack of tailings larger than the Pentagon.

"Isn't it arguable that the best place for really toxic stuff is at the bottom of a lake so long as it stays there?" asked Justice Antonin Scalia.

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090112/ap_on_go_ot/scotus_gold_mine;_ylt=Aqi_QKlL6qTybzmuwlQmQ6iyFz4D

Yeah, it's that Ted Olsen and yeah I have a fucking solution: Don't let the fuckwads mine there. This case has far reaching implications.

Please read the entire article.

[StreetKnowledge]

1. So, kill a bunch of aquatic life or make a mountain of waste?

How about treating the crap so that it isn't toxic, and using it for fill somewhere? remove the toxins, and incinerate those at ultra high temperatures.

Simple enough, isn't it?

[Warpy]

2. Mine tailings are high in toxic heavy metals

I know because most of the trout streams here in NM are so polluted by them that fish are catch and release, too poisonous to eat.

The only safe places to eat fish you've caught are artificially stocked ponds far from the sites.

[spanone]

3. ted olsen never saw a dollar he wouldn't chase

c h a n g e

[malaise]

4. In response to Scalia

"Isn't it arguable that the best place for really toxic stuff is at the bottom of a lake so long as it stays there?"

I am sure he knows that more than a few people view him as really toxic stuff.

[cali]

5. lol.

fucking asshole. And Robert's comments were just as infuriating.

[enki23]

6. so long as it *stays there,* scalia, you fat, retarded fuck?

one day, in a distant, rosy future, can i imagine a nation that might consider a passing acquaintance with reality (aka, a decent science education) to be a positive qualification for holding one of the most important, most powerful posts in the fucking world?

seriously. there's this group of people who dedicate their lives to learning about how the world works. many of them are called "scientists." maybe we could at least promote people who might at least listen to their fucking advice before making asinine proclamations on subjects about which the promotee knows fuck-all?

[4 t 4]

8. WTF ? No absolutely not !

[pnwmom]

7. The best place for really toxic stuff is down Scalia's craw.

So long as it stays there.

Unfortunately, it's sure to come spewing back out.

[onethatcares]

9. what??? Arsenic is now a poison?

When did that start:sarcasm: I say it gets poured into the lake a Scalias' gated community, after all, it can't hurt anything.

Jeeeeeeezes, we've screwed this planet up and some people just don't want to stop.

[TheKentuckian]

10. Thank God that Souter was not rejected as I called for at the time

If he had turned out as intended, the brown shirts would have taken over a while ago.

How about your toxic waste be processed and stored properly and the greedy bastards use some of their profits to make it happen?