I have read with interest the recent articles on the Greens Creek Mine and the tidelands sampling in Hawk Inlet.
Yes, the runoff from the tailing pile needs to be handled in the most technological way possible. Perhaps an improved milling process would reduce the heavy metals in the tailing pile. As for the sampling on the tide flats in Hawk Inlet, the competence of the people doing the work should be questioned if they had not found lead and other minerals there.
Zinc Creek was an old name of Greens Creek and has been discharging lead and zinc into Hawk Inlet for thousands of years. There have to be hundreds of pockets of lead, zinc and other metals in the creek yet to be discharged into the inlet. This material comes from an outcropping in the center of the island called the Big Sore. It is called Big Sore because nothing grows there due to the high mineral content of the area.
Albert Shaw,
Juneau
Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.