purple mountains of waste

[Guest guest]

Illegal dumps sprout up across the American West

 

Amber waves of grain? Purple mountain majesties? These days in the American

West, it's illegal dumps that are proliferating under the spacious skies: heaps

of car parts, furniture, appliances, and household trash discarded on public

land. The Bureau of Land Management has identified 6,482 illegal dumps since

2000, plus an additional 607 hazmat cleanups. Sprawl seems to be part of the

problem, says BLM's Felicia Probert: " There is hardly a city in the West right

now that isn't experiencing significant growth. Typically, we haven't had the

appropriation, the budget strength, to add rangers as these issues grow in the

expanding West. " Dealing with a potentially hazardous material, such as an

unidentified drum of liquid, can cost up to $10,000. In California, coping with

illegal dumping on private and public land costs at least $87 million every

year. Commercial illegal dumping in the state can bring a fine of up to $3,000

for a first offense -- but dumpers generally must be caught in the act to be

proved guilty.

 

 

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straight to the source: USA Today, Benjamin Spillman, 08 Oct 2006

 

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances,

there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in

such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest

we become unwitting victims of the darkness.

William O. Douglas