06-29-2016, 03:34 AM
The biggest concern I have is when digging two (2) stories down into Mauna Kea, that the law states, the land must be returned to "the original state when leased ... how is TMT or any other observatory in the future going to adhere to that condition?
ophikao,
When I visited a friend in Gillette, Wyoming back in the 1980's, she gave me a tour of the open pit coal mine where she worked. It was perhaps a mile in diameter, and hundreds of feet deep. The trucks had to drive in circles around the outer edge of the pit in order to reach the bottom for a load of coal. From where we stood on one rim, the trucks (which carried 120 tons of coal in each load) looked like small toys across the expanse on the far side of the gigantic man-made depression.
On our drive back to town, my friend pointed toward the distance on the right side of the highway and said "do you see that?" It was nothing but wide open prairie as as is most of the land in that part of Wyoming. "You know what that was?" she asked. "It was an old open pit mine."
I found it hard to believe. The deep hole in the earth was gone with barely a shallow basin remaining. Otherwise it looked exactly like the endless high plains of untouched prairie grasses and prairie flowers all around the restored area.
There are people and companies who specialize in this exact kind of work, land restoration. They've been in business for decades returning mining and drilling operations to their original state. The TMT site is tiny compared to the work they have already accomplished. From what I've seen, they're fully capable of returning a site with a 20 foot deep puka back to it's original state.
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
-Joseph Brodsky
ophikao,
When I visited a friend in Gillette, Wyoming back in the 1980's, she gave me a tour of the open pit coal mine where she worked. It was perhaps a mile in diameter, and hundreds of feet deep. The trucks had to drive in circles around the outer edge of the pit in order to reach the bottom for a load of coal. From where we stood on one rim, the trucks (which carried 120 tons of coal in each load) looked like small toys across the expanse on the far side of the gigantic man-made depression.
On our drive back to town, my friend pointed toward the distance on the right side of the highway and said "do you see that?" It was nothing but wide open prairie as as is most of the land in that part of Wyoming. "You know what that was?" she asked. "It was an old open pit mine."
I found it hard to believe. The deep hole in the earth was gone with barely a shallow basin remaining. Otherwise it looked exactly like the endless high plains of untouched prairie grasses and prairie flowers all around the restored area.
There are people and companies who specialize in this exact kind of work, land restoration. They've been in business for decades returning mining and drilling operations to their original state. The TMT site is tiny compared to the work they have already accomplished. From what I've seen, they're fully capable of returning a site with a 20 foot deep puka back to it's original state.
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
-Joseph Brodsky
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves