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Saw something at the old Trenton Steel site that made me stop
I was driving past the old Trenton Steel foundry site yesterday, the one that shut down about five years ago. They've got a chain link fence up, but a big section was bent back. I could see a pile of old ladle linings just sitting out in the open rain, no cover at all. The bricks were crumbling and the runoff was going right into a storm drain. It got me thinking about how much silica dust that must be putting out when it dries. Has anyone else seen old sites being left like this around their area?
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keithwalker6mo ago
That runoff going straight into a storm drain is the real kicker. They just fenced it off and walked away, didn't they? All that crumbled lining is basically pure silica dust waiting to blow around. It's wild they can leave an industrial site like that with zero cleanup.
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juliaa256mo ago
Wow, I used to think fences were enough but @keithwalker is right, that's just a total walkaway. Seeing the runoff like that really changed my mind.
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elliotl245mo ago
Right? That's the part that gets me too. Just fencing it off doesn't mean the contamination magically goes away. All that dust is just gonna blow around every time the wind picks up, straight into people's yards and lungs. Makes you wonder what the actual cleanup standards are for these places. Did they even test the soil or groundwater before they walked away, or did they just slap up a fence and call it a day? Seems like a total loophole in the system if you ask me.
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