Hello All, This is not meant to be disparaging of FMI (Freeport McMoran) in Clifton Arizona. It is meant to show that regardless of any sort of effort to provide safety and controls, human error does occur. Observations from visiting the area, Nov 2, 2008 are below. Again, these are personal perceptions and observations accompanied by photographs taken by me and one of my neighbors and video to show the potential impact of a mine in a mountainous area above a town. One slideshow:
http://s482.photobucket.com/albums/rr189/VailCoronaAZ/Freeport%20McMoran%20Su...
Second slideshow:
http://s388.photobucket.com/albums/oo325/NoMiningOff83/FMI%20Leak%20%2011-02-...
1. Upward of 100 contractors and construction vehicles removing soil and debris from the creek or channel from the "top" of 191 at the curve near the mine to the bridge where Chase Creek meets the San Francisco River. 2. Some areas were not being actively worked on, but others had quite a bit of activity. What I noticed in the area towards the mine, just outside of Clifton was an area that was perhaps a "river walk" ? with concrete benches and perhaps tables? I am not completely sure as it was full of large dirt haulers and loading machines. 3. There was a Bighorn Sheep crossing sign on 191 at the approximate area. 4. We were told to get off the Bridge by contractors, just south of an old Sonic by a U Haul place. We were crossing it so that was our intention. It was the second time we had been told to leave a public area that was not cordoned off. When were standing there for a brief moment our eyes and throat were burning. Maybe our tolerance is not built up to that sort of thing. 5.The distance of 2 miles is probably accurate from the dam to the San Francisco River. Someone can Google earth it. 6. If that substance did not hit the San Fransisco River it is a miracle. Where the picture was taken of the men digging with shovels wearing masks and shown in the paper, it is literally just a bridge span and half away. 7. We spoke with a city official who said the spill was 100 thousand gallons plus of Sulfuric acid, 100 gallons of some other chemical he could not remember the same of. He said we could take pictures as long as we did not cause a safety hazard. We were followed by subcontractor trucks but at no time were we ever in or near an active cordoned off area or construction vehicles. 8. There are homes and businesses all along Chase Creek past the Uhaul place and a daycare center too. 9. Here's the thing. It is OBVIOUS FMI has spent millions working with a subcontractor to get rid of toxic materials and to rebuild the hills where the old smelter stood. It is also apparent from the "river walk" there has been an attempt to revegetate and so forth. 10. Something? human error? has caused all of that to go down the tubes. Even if the materials themselves are not an issue (and I am not saying one way or another) those diesel trucks idle, leak oil and run over embankments. 11. There will be increased sedimentation into the San Francisco River (which you can see happens already in the pictures). 12. When we were there we saw one environmental vehicle and it was game and fish parked at the hotel. 13. The whole length of the creek was taped off with safety tape, but most had either fallen down or was still being put up. 14. The way to handle the situation yesterday when we were there was to send an FMI employee to talk to us about what they were doing to make things right. If they had had been open and not had contractors following us around in trucks when were doing nothing wrong it would have made us feel things were more in good faith.
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mining town's abandoned downtown, clifton az ~ 03apr10by sputniksays1,288 views
The reason you were asked to leave the bridge is that it was about to collapse - not because of the spill, but because of age. Many of the bridges were found to be unsafe during the clean-up. Freeport McMoRan paid to repair them.
The numbers you have on the amount of material spilled are outrageously overstated.
Bighorn sheep are smart enough not to drink anything that smells wrong. The Rocky Mountain Bighorn herd in the area is one of the healthiest in the Southwest.
jteastaz 1 week ago
nice video
drywaller100 2 years ago