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Track_Shovel

@ Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net

Posts

3383
Comments

3732
Joined

3 yr. ago

Fortunately, woodland creatures don't hire lawyers

Moderating

solarpunk memes slrpnk.net

3w ago

you are not separate from nature. everything you do to hurt the world hurts you too.
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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 3w ago
Sorry, couldn't hear you over the roar of this mulcher...

3w ago

Jet fuel can't melt stinky beams

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 3w ago

Stop. Please, sir. The joke is already dead!

3w ago

rural americans will drive past a coal-fired power plant, in their five mpg ford truck, to go to a small town city council meeting and complain about how environmentally destructive solar panels are

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 3w ago

That's a valid concern, but they use dry cask storage. If you inter these casks underground, you can redirect any water that may seep into the storage chamber or use an impermeable cover over the casks. We do this a lot with mining wastes.

3w ago

I drilled a hole through an old bank vault.

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 3w ago

I'm the Confucius of shitposting.

If a meme shits in your post, does it make a sound?

4w ago

I drilled a hole through an old bank vault.

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

4w ago

rural americans will drive past a coal-fired power plant, in their five mpg ford truck, to go to a small town city council meeting and complain about how environmentally destructive solar panels are

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

I'm not saying its not harmful, but it does drop in risk over time, and it is concentrated. In comparison, one waste rock dump I'm dealing with is about 237 ha in size, and contains 21 million tonnes of ML/ARD generating waste rock. Another mine I know will contain 3 billion m³ of tailings in their tailings storage facility.

Dealing with any waste is not cheap, though the level of effort is smaller with nuclear than traditional mining wastes. If you store the waste in engineered drums/cells etc. which are water tight and stick them underground, after siting the storage location well, you're in pretty good shape.

I won't contest nuclear plant upkeep.

4w ago

That can't be right

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

We are on (what feels like) our 8th spring thaw

4w ago

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

Straight to all my veg ecologist friends

4w ago

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

Green Alder has entered the chat, and it's here to fix both nitrogen, and your fucking wagon

4w ago

rural americans will drive past a coal-fired power plant, in their five mpg ford truck, to go to a small town city council meeting and complain about how environmentally destructive solar panels are

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

Damnit, Stabby, I was trying (not very hard, mind you) to work.There's a lot of back and forth going on in this thread, a lot of it around environmental impact of coal, and land uses. I'll try to clear some of this up. At worst, you'll just get my ramblings on the topic.

Nuclear energy. I largely agree with @arrow74@lemmy.zip. Nuclear has a shitty stigma, and that really precludes it from being even a transitional energy source, particularly in North America. While the wastes live forever (essentially) they are concentrated, and after a century or so, they are generally similar to other toxic wastes (e.g., primarily alpha and beta radiation), and if properly stored, are pretty safe. I'm not a nuclear expert, however, so this is more of an opinion than anything, though maybe a bit more informed than the average schmoe (though schmoe I am).
Coal mining - historically, very destructive, no land use planning, just let the pit fill on its own, Metal Leaching and Acid Rock Drainage (herein: ML/ARD) issues. ML/ARD issues arise when you have metal and sulphur bearing rock that's exposed to atmosphere over time. Sulphur oxidizes, drops pH, and leaches metals out of the rock. This can occur sometimes at neutral pHs but it's less common and dependent on the metals in the rock. If you just leave the pit to fill on its own, it takes a long time, and you're more prone to ML/ARD and water quality issues as a result. If you actively flood the pit, you can largely avoid these issues, but you still need to model, check, and monitor your future water quality so you don't have a pit full of toxic crap. Usually, if water quality is poor, they can use semi-passive treatment (e.g. in pit bioreactors) or actively (water treatment plant) treat water until water quality is good enough to release to the surrounding environment, once the pit's water elevation reaches whatever target they have set out for it.

@MythicalMenace@slrpnk.net points out how mining companies are often required to put money back into the towns around them. This is part of social closure of the mine, so they don't leave behind ghost towns. Generally, though, it doesn't work. Towns need another source of employment once the mine shuts down, but we're largely starting to see mining companies be required to have some sort of social transition plan in place for workers and people connected to the mine.

2a - Mining wastes @grue@lemmy.world yes, coal wastes can be toxic, this links back to ML/ARD I mention earlier. Tailings are crushed (usually to sand sized) rock that's been processed - they usually have faster ML/ARD onset due to their smaller particle size -> increased surface area. @SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world also tied to ML/ARD and water management -see #2 above

3 - coal plants: not much to add here, but they are often a source of metal deposition (via dust, fly ash), and radioactivity (radon in rock).

4w ago

YOINK!

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

I think you are thinking of Vinegaroons - they spray you with acetic acid. AFAIK, amblypigids skewer their prey on arm spikes

4w ago

YOINK!

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

I know this, and you know this, but MEME

4w ago

The redcoats are coming

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jlFZhprU4

4w ago

My eyes!

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

damnit, you beat me to it.

4w ago

My eyes!

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

4w ago

hmm

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

I had to look it up, and yes, excellent eyes

4w ago

The Look™

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Track_Shovel @slrpnk.net 4w ago

If you're not pestering the shit out of your wife, are you even married? My wife (perhaps unwisely) chose an intelligent (she'll tell you otherwise, when I forget to replace the garbage bag) and funny man. Now she spends half her day rolling her eyes, or crinkling her nose at me (she's particularly pretty when she does that), or swatting my hand away from her bottom.