Mid-west River Polluted

The New York Times reported today "The E.P.A. says that mining pollutes approximately 40 percent of the headwaters of Western watersheds and that cleaning up these mines may cost American taxpayers more than $50 billion.”

Their statement is based on old mining claims that had no cleanup requirements until the 1980's. Yet present day they allow fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides,  and fungicides to pollute the rivers like the Platte in Nebraska, even as the drought and water usage have milked that once mighty river to a trickle in summer.

Old Filoh, in my novel As All My Fathers Were, tells Richard: "You're helping ruin the river. You're sucking water out of it. You're polluting it. You're taking care of today and not looking at tomorrow. You're inheriting a farm that's dying every day and you're standing there with your boot on its throat. The worst is that you and Seth think you're getting something real good. You're inheriting a corpse."

 How can our nation hand this great land over to the next generation without cleaning up the mess? The last two wars cost a billion dollars every week or two. Let's take money and commit to cleaning up the rivers and put the unemployed to work doing it. If we can find money for wars, lets find money to clean our land and rebuild our infrastructure. Do I hear an Amen?