Comments on: America’s Nastiest Toxic Waste Dumps (And Whether Or Not You Live Near One)

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:27:34 +0000

Liz: Are you talking about the W.R. Grace plant in Wayne? Because that is a Superfund site (I put the link on my name). If not, that’s weird, because you described it exactly. I grew up in Wayne, and I remember when all the soil from the park down by the river was dug up and moved up to the Superfund site.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:45:47 +0000

A friend of mine just moved to Butte with his 4 year old daughter. From what I have read here it is not a very nice place to live let alone bring a small child. Do they have any studies on the health of individuals who live here? That comment about the fog scares me to death! It can’t be a healthy place to live. please answer me back ..Jeanne

By: Creede

Creede — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:08:02 +0000

It may be mostly cleaned up by now (except for the groundwater which may still take decades), but let’s not forget Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado. 27 square miles total, with one portion that was once called “The Most Polluted Square Mile on Earth”. Just think pesticides, nerve gas, and all the nasty combinations that anyone can think of.

By: killjoy

killjoy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:22:58 +0000

ah. what a douring list. strange to see one of the best is missing though.

Onondaga Lake, in Syracuse, New York, is the long standing holder of the title “Most Polluted Lake in the USA” and often ranks out as a top polluted lake in the world. the EPA has marked it a Haz Mat site, and it contains our friends Phosphorous, Ammonia, and enough Mercury to fill the next ten years production of light bulbs!

the main plant responsible for all the refuse has been shut down, but other plants, and additional unresolved and unknown sources, still pour more pollutants in to this lake.

curiously, the mercury content is the least accounted for, something that has poor syracuse scratching their heads.

its also got an incredibly rank algae bloom every year because of the chemical mix.

By: Faron Hite

Faron Hite — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:18:58 +0000

Superfund sites are horrendious to be sure, and my native Michigan has plenty-
the Tittabawassee/Saginaw rivers’ water-
sheds should qualify thanks to the Dow Chemical Co. Just as scarey are all of
the “mini-sites” in this state- sites of
old mills, chemical plants, and, still being created, the clandestine dumping grounds of the oil & gas companies who
are poking holes all over the place. It is almost a matter of pride to some of
these yahoos (I deal with many) to dump a few barrels here, a few there…

By: terrabyte

terrabyte — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:53:05 +0000

I used to investigate hazardous waste sites before I retired. I’ve worked on Love Canal, Anniston, and more than I want to remember. Worried about living near a hazardous site? Then don’t live near a gas station or a dry cleaner. Many have underground storage tanks that leak. The main issue would be if you have a residential well that you use for drinking water.

In general, industrial sites are bad, DOD sites are worse, and DOE sites are the worst. Listen to what Zane said above, Hanford!

By: star_tigerlily

star_tigerlily — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:12:08 +0000

I live about 8 miles away from Picher.

By: charlie

charlie — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:49:59 +0000

Where’s Times Beach??

By: sinbad

sinbad — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:29:01 +0000

This makes sense I live less than 5 miles from the Houston Ship Channel, where there is a lot of chemical plants.

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:05:35 +0000

My personal favorite is Dead Creek in Sauget, Ill. Monsanto used to dump chemicals there. Kids used to cause flash fires by riding their dirt bikes through the creek bed, and some of the EPA documentation includes a report about a perfectly healthy dog running into the creek bed, coming up the opposite bank, and dropping dead. I know a guy who used to work out by a rail yard near the Monsanto plant. He said he and the other guys used to sit around on their breaks and watch the water glow in all these weird psychedelic colors.

I always thought it ironic that nothing could live in Dead Creek. The name predates Monsanto by many years and supposedly comes from a local Indian tribe’s practice of floating their dead down the creek to the Mississippi River.