Ecological Issues Related to REEs
The elements needed to build electronics come first from
mining the earth’s crust and refining the rare earth elements. These elements
may later be recycled and used over again in the production of new electronics,
but in order to get them into that rotation, they are first mined. The environment
has pits excavated out of it and radioactive waste created when processing the
rare elements. It is safe to say mining for precious metals does not come
without consequences and complications, many of them environmental.
Ivanpah Dry Lake, located in California’s Mojave Desert near
the Nevada border, once had water contaminated by radioactive waste dumped into
and around it by the hundreds of thousands of gallons. This radioactive waste-water
came from one of seven spills produced by a broken pipeline at a rare earth
mining facility in the vicinity. That facility, Mountain Pass Mine, halted
production following this environmental disaster in 1997. At that time Mountain
Pass Mine was one of California’s largest producers of radioactive waste. And
it was not the first time Mountain Pass Mine had a problem with handling and spilling
radioactive waste-water; it happened in 1994 as well and they were then fined $100,000
by the state of California.[1]
Coincidentally, also in 1994, congress deemed a portion of
the surrounding land to be a national park- the Mojave National Preserve. The
national park is known for hiking, lava tubes, dunes, camping and terrific
views. 67,000 people visited the park around the time and location of one of Mountain Pass Mine's worst
radioactive waste-water spills in 1997. Although
difficult to draw any conclusions about the health of the visitors at that
time, it is known that radioactive exposure is connected to cases of leukemia and
cancer in humans as well as causing health issues in wildlife. [2]
Big horn sheep, rodents, birds, and reptiles are just some
of the wildlife to inhabit the area contaminated by Mountain Pass Mine’s
radioactive waste-water spills. Radiation in wildlife causes health problems
such as tumors, diseases and complications with reproduction. The area
surrounding Mountain Pass Mine is a major habitat for the desert tortoise gopherus agassizii, California’s
state reptile. This desert tortoise has an already reduced population and tortoises
in general are highly susceptible to radioactive contamination in the earth
because they burrow in the ground the waste-water seeps into.[3]
In 2000, Mountain Pass Mine was purchased by Molycorp who
pledged to resolve any environmental issues in order to make Mountain Pass
operational again. Fully functioning again in 2002, Molycorp boasts precautions
have been taken, and will continue to be taken, as they push forward with
production. Mountain Pass Mine will still have radioactive waste-water pools,
but Molycorp promises changes to the containment of the waste-water such as
reducing evaporation of the radioactive water by placing floating plastic on the
water’s surface. They have acquired permits to allow them to dig the pit 300
feet deeper, promising a 10% increase in rare earth elements per year.[4]
Sure the U.S. will benefit from increased production of rare earth elements, but
at what environmental cost?
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