Hundreds of Thousands of Abandoned Mines in US Could Pose Risk

DiscoveryNews

The recent leak of toxic waste from the abandoned Gold King mine in Colorado, which turned the Animas River a disturbing shade of orange, has drawn attention to the vastly bigger environmental problem -- the estimated 500,000 inactive mines across the nation. Many of these mines date back to an era when mining was largely unregulated, and most of them haven't been located, let alone cleaned up.

SkyTruth, a Shepherdstown, W.Va.-based organization that uses technology such as remote sensing and digital mapping to highlight environmental problems, used U.S. Geological Survey data to create an interactive map that shows just how enormous of a problem we face from old mines. And it looks pretty daunting.

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