Environmental Issues

When I started this blog it was with the intent of providing pertinent environmental news without the bias displayed by the MSM. To that end, I will definitely be commenting on more environmental issues in the future. I'll start with this interesting remediation method:

Tumbleweeds prove to be effective tool for removing uranium from soil
19 November 2004Greenwire
© 2004 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Tumbleweeds absorb uranium from contaminated soil faster and more safely than other conventional methods, according to a recent study by a New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology researcher.
Dana Ulmer-Scholle found that if harvested before they blow away, tumbleweeds are an effective way to clean up uranium-contaminated areas near military bases or the estimated 12,000 inactive mines in the Western United States. More traditional remediation methods are costly and involve removing, transporting, reburying and encasing massive amounts of soil. Ulmer-Scholle said her method could cheaply clean up individual sites in about a decade.
Other plants, including ferns and junipers, are also capable of absorbing heavy metals such as uranium, but Ulmer-Scholle found that the Russian thistle and kochia varieties of tumbleweed absorb the metal much faster. The Defense Department funded Ulmer-Scholle's research.
She said once a project is complete, the uranium would be filtered out of the tumbleweeds and disposed of in hazardous waste facilities, and the plants would be burned.

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