WEBVTT - What happens to abandoned mines? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.360 It's ready. Are you welcome to you stuff you should 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:16.280 know from house Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:21.520 to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Damn, 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.680 that makes it sound fish And um, I just had 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.840 some of my notes mixed up, like criminal records was 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:29.960 stuffed in the middle of this one, Like wouldn't that 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.000 be funny if I was talking about abandoned mines? And 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.279 then just like a robot, it was like, and if 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:37.960 you have a d U I you can call your 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.040 local police shop and get that expunged. Yeah, I think 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:44.920 that's bad advice. Well, now I'm just saying, do you 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:51.000 not ever call the police unless it's an emergency. You're right, Chuck? Yes, Um, 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.720 how are you doing good? Three today? Huh yeah, day 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.640 before holiday even in fact, the office is closed right 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.960 now and we're still working. It's like crickets outside and 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:02.960 someone threw a spear at me when I stuck my 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:06.440 head out to go to the bathroom. Good that was 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:11.000 his assignment. So Chuck, if I may take it down 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.480 a notcher. Two? Have you ever heard of a guy 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:18.760 named Taylor Crane, a kid. Taylor as a kid who 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.120 was sixteen years old when he died. He was on 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:26.520 a tour of Mexico UM with his parents New Mexico 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.360 and mex Mexico, Mexico Old Mexico UM. And he was 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.959 on a tour I didn't realize he's existed UM but 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:38.800 a of abandoned haciendas and mines. So it's basically like 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:44.040 an urban exploration tour of old Mexico UM. And they 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.959 were at an old mind site the tour group was 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.120 and Taylor was apparently playing tag and um jumped up 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.520 on a low wall and apparently on the other side 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.120 of that was a thousand foot mine shaft which he 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:02.240 fell into a ten ft cross jess wide open a 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.480 thousand feet down. They had a lot of trouble getting 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.960 to them to recover him because there's so much lead 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.880 and arsenic at the bottom that it was really difficult 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:16.520 to breathe to get down there to get them. So 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.640 you think, like, wow, it's really crazy that Mexico has 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:24.519 these open minds. Mind blowing as it is, Mexico is 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.440 not the only place. As a matter of fact, here 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.840 in the States we have something on the scale of 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:37.200 five hundred thousand abandoned minds. That's the high end, but 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.000 the low end even is still I think like three 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:47.200 hundred thousand abandoned minds. Abandoned minds probably two of the 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.720 most dangerous words you can put together, and they're all 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.200 over the place. The US is lousy with them. Yeah, 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.119 and about thirty people die in the United States every 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:01.560 year from accidents involving abandoned minds. And did a little looking. Yeah, 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:10.839 apparently they include uh, quarries, and most of these are drownings. Um, 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.400 because the quarry either has water or an abandoned mind shaft. 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:17.600 You know, they'll pump out water to work in it, 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.440 and then when they're done, it fills back up with water. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:26.560 So uh, some say, crazy scuba divers, we'll try and 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.600 scuba dive these things. My dad was actually certified in 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:34.040 an old marble quarry in Tlita, and to be certified 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.560 you had to go down to a school bus at 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:41.080 the bottom of this quarry. Um, you had to dive 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.640 down to go into the school bus and grab something 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:45.920 from it. It was like right inside, and then bring 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.080 it back up. Then they'd be like, Okay, you're certifying 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.680 your dad did. Yeah, that's pretty awesome. I'm trying to 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:54.520 picture that. I can't imagine anything more creepy than having 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:56.760 to go into a school bus at the bottom of 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.640 a filled quarry. No, I'm just trying to picture your 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.280 dad like all you know, scuba diving and adventure, a 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.920 buzz cut and more like a big watch and everything. Yeah, 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.040 he was. I guess anytime you're older and you meet 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.400 someone father when they're a little older, it's hard to 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.080 imagine them as young because I didn't know him back then, 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.919 But I picture him on the couch. Oh no, uh no, 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.800 he was. He carried a spear gun everywhere he went 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:24.720 with him. Really, that's awesome. Alright, So, um, sadly, like 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:26.800 I said, about thirty people die each year, many of 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.279 them are drownings. I think number two on the list 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.520 as a TV accidents, which doesn't surprise me because tool 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.720 along in the a TV on some you know, random 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.480 thinking You're in the middle of nowhere place and all 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.880 of a sudden the bottom falls out. Literally. Um yeah, 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.960 those were the top two far and away that I 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.640 came across too. But since two thousand one, apparently two 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.040 seven people have died in the United States because of 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.039 accidents involving abandoned minds. I saw one in two thousand 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.640 and eight. These two guys were uh, trying to get 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.000 a former gold mine going again because they thought there 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.479 was still gold down there, and they were pumping out 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.479 water with a some sort of machine with a generator, 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.000 and they died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Yeah, that's that's 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.960 another one. I think it's way down on the list. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.320 It's like a distant third, but but I think it's 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.840 it's um being overcome unable to breathe, asphyxiation, that's the 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.280 word I'm looking for, by bringing in your own thing, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.440 or just by the toxic chemicals down there, toxic chemicals 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.880 or um, carbon monoxide or oxygen depletion in general from 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.760 people either trying to get old ones started up or yeah, 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.200 more likely adventuring. Yeah, abandoned mind Let's go ahead and 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.640 give a tip to people because we like to encourage 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.400 the urban explorers, which you know we've done a podcast 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.240 on that. But man, you don't need to be hanging 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.800 around abandoned minds. No, they're very, very dangerous. Yes, I 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.760 mean that's just so mind bogglingly dangerous. Just resist the urge, 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:57.359 and I like, I have that urge too, because I 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.440 love the urban exploration. If I saw a whole the ground, 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.000 I would want to go check it out. But it's 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:04.960 not a good place to be, not a good thing 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.560 to do. So what's crazy is we said, like, up 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.400 to five hundred thousand abandoned minds and these are just 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.440 the minds, not mine features. So say, every mine has 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:17.360 several mind features. Say and at it, which is a 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:21.400 vertical shaft or I'm sorry, a horizontal shaft. Um, And 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:23.960 you've got a vertical shaft like the one that um, 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.760 poor Taylor Crane fell into. Um, you have all these 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:32.320 different mind features on up to five hundred thousand minds. 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.240 And the crazy thing is is as of February two 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.680 thousand eleven, the Bureau of Land Management, which is tasked 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.920 with finding these abandoned minds, has only found about thirty 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:46.000 one thousand of them. That means that there's possibly four 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.680 hundred and sixty nine thousand abandoned minds in the United 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:53.560 States that no one has on any map. True, but 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.920 like on on the good side, they're trying to find them. Now. 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:59.320 In two thousand and eight, they only had eighteen thousand 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.599 of them, so in spanned three years they found another 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:07.040 uh thousand, I had twelve thousand and two thousand and eight. 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:12.520 Well even better than um. And I think of those 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:17.960 have been remediated, have pending reclamation, or they say aren't 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:25.600 a danger. They say, so, Um, that's just the physical dangerous. Yeah, 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.240 there's two kinds. There's physical dangers and environmental dangers. And 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.840 I think and I guess it's of the ones they 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:37.320 found they said to have physical hazards and five have 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.960 environmental hazards, which you know, it's not a ton but 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.640 is pretty dangerous. Well, a physical hazard is insidious for 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.920 the local just the local people who are walking around 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:53.400 it sure like falling in, yeah, or maybe caving in. 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.360 And by the way, I found out that any mine 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:00.400 feature that is like a hole in the ground, or 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.720 even like if there's a depression in the ground because 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:07.520 a mine collapse, some they're called glory holes. Did you 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.320 know that? That was almost a fit take, wasn't it? 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.920 That's not true? I s where to God it is. Wow, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.600 I saw a sign today of an abandoned mind called 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.280 the glory whole mind. Well that's that's quite a name. Yeah, 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.200 good for them. Uh mind tailings you talk about, and 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.680 this is some of the environmental hazards, and these can 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.000 actually be physical hazards too if you're living nearby. These 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.240 are the remnants of what was going on there of 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.120 the mineral, and often it can be very toxic and 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.920 then that can either be harmful to you or it 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.520 can run off into the water and be harmful to people, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.240 you know, downriver. That was my point is things like um, 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:52.040 like add its and other mind features. UM, they're dangerous 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.680 if you're walking around the mine. Environmental hazards of a 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.920 mind can be very far reaching because in very much 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.320 the same way that ascid rain is produced from like 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.959 smoke stacks, these mines can produce acid rain UM, and 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:09.680 they can also produce acid groundwater. When sulfide sulfide minerals 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.520 and oxygen combined with water, it produces acidic groundwater that 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:17.840 can pollute an entire water system downstream and then also chuck. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.200 There's mercury tailings or a big problem, especially with gold mines. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.960 So you know, like if you take mercury and take 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.640 gold and put them together, mercury absorbs the gold and 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:33.880 you get a rainbow, right, a deadly rainbow. Uh, and 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:36.800 it makes what's called an amalgam. And then later on 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.040 so you have like you can take a little gold 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.480 flex or whatever, and now they're like highly portable, stable 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.160 little things of mercury. And then you take them somewhere 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.760 else and you can burn the mercury off and the 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.680 mercury will vaporize and just the gold is left. Well, 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.600 the problem is that mercury then immediately contaminates wherever you 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:58.920 just burned it off, and there's the atmosphere and everything. 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.040 But those kind of hailings are especially problematic, and old 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.640 gold mines too. And does that end up in gold 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.200 Schlager bottles? Probably is that where they get it? I 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:12.840 don't know. I hope they're not putting formerly mercury gold 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.800 and Malcolm in the gold schlag No, the people that 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.800 gold Slager wouldn't do that. So, Josh, if this is 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.439 such a problem, why wouldn't these companies clean up their 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.200 mind sites. It seems like a no brainer to me. 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:26.400 You're there, you do the work, you close it down, 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.840 you clean it up, make sure it's safe for everybody. 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.520 That's how you do it now. Yes, supposedly, Uh, it 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.720 was not the case until ninety seven. For about two years. 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.320 People mind UM even more than that, people mind in 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.319 the United States willingly however they wanted, and they would 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.840 they would say, well, this mind's used up. I don't 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.640 need it any longer. I'm walking away. Well, the quick 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:56.160 answer to my question answer now is money. That's the 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.280 real reason, because it's really expensive to clean up your 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.480 mind site. If you're a mining operation and you can 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.160 free what you can just fold up shop and leave. 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.040 Why would you spend money to clean it up? If 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.320 you were a company without me like an ethical compass 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.520 and a moral compass, because you know it's gonna hit 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.920 your bottom line, so screw it, let's just leave it. 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:20.800 You know, I can't help but feel like you set 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.200 me up by asking me that question and expecting the 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.720 short answer, because I've never given a short answer. Well, 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.360 that is a short answer. UM two thousand and six 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.360 congressional testimony said it would cost seventy two billion dollars 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.319 to clean up only the hard rock minds like at 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:42.520 the hard rock cafes. Right, seventy two billion dollars. Well, 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.600 the Bureau of Land Management, which we said is UM 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:51.319 responsible for finding these minds and for reclaiming them. Basically, Um, 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:54.240 they divide minds that they have to deal with in 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.560 the three categories. There's hard rock, which is like gold, silver, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.320 mineral iron maybe yeah, I don't think they deal with 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:08.319 iron um. And then there's coal mines, and then uranium mines. 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:11.120 Got it. Well, I saw on the East coast they 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:12.720 had a map of where a lot of these abandoned 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:14.880 mines are, and there's a lot of them on the 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:16.440 East coast, and there were I think a lot of 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.439 the coal mines. Oh yeah, Like there's Centrally of Pennsylvania, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.880 which we talked about before, is an abandoned town with 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:28.240 the coal steam burning underneath. Oh yeah, that's right. Creepy. Um. 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:34.080 So they abandoned the mines over time, land records and 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:40.120 lease records were lost, basically taking a reverse foreclosure. Yeah, 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.120 pretty much. And so in the end, like no one's 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.120 on the hook. No one knows many times who these 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.040 mines originally, like who was responsible over this to begin with? 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:49.800 And even if they do know the mine or its 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.079 gonna be like the do you have documentation that's there 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:56.520 on that mine? And the government goes no, and the 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.880 mine owners says see you or the other little loophole 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.839 wrote this right that you pointed out, which was if 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:07.360 you have gone through bankruptcy, then you can't be held liable. 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.640 That is no longer true. Oh is that not true? Yeah? Yeah, 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:15.000 I was happy to find that there's there's You now 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.800 have to post a bond basically as a mining company 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.480 from what I understand from research I did very recently, 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:23.480 that you have to post a bond kind of like 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:27.080 a fidelity bond. That is money you pay in upfront 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.720 that you get back if your mining operations successfully reclaims 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.480 the land. If you don't reclaim it, if reclamation isn't 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.679 like the end of your um mind, or you go bankrupt, 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.520 that money is still there to pay for reclamation. So 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.360 you canna correct the article. I think I should. I 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:48.600 think you should. People need to know that. UM here's 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.000 a little thing too called the Clean Water Act, which 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.960 um obviously you're going to be violating that if you're 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.880 letting your toxins from your mind leak out into the groundwater, 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.719 big penalties. But um As pointed out that in two 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.720 thousand six that was legislation to exempt people from prosecution 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.800 who were actually trying to clean up their minds, Like 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.439 I want to go clean up my mind, And we're 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.720 gonna exempt you, uh, as long as you weren't the 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:17.120 people who started the mind to begin with from I 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:20.040 guess exempt from the Clean Water Act. Yes, from polluting 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:25.440 because with tailings, a lot of a lot of cases. Um, 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.840 just removing them is going to some's gonna slip into 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.920 the watershed. And if it's from, say a uranium, mind, 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.200 well does it's radioactive and your water is radioactive and 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.960 you're in you have to pay a huge fine. Was 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:41.880 it better to leave it? I wonder it's better to 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.040 not get any into the water shed? Well, but can 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.920 you clean it up without doing that? Yes? I feel 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:51.000 like what the government has been doing. The Beer of 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.360 Land Management does, and they have a division called the 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:59.040 Abandoned mine Lands. Um, they basically just build a structure 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.720 around it, kind of like what they did with Chernobyl, 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.520 but on a much smaller scale, where it's basically like 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.840 this is gonna stay here for a little while, we'll 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.520 just put this around it until it's not radioactive anyway. Okay, 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.360 that's the impression I have what they're doing, at least 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.240 with radioactive stuff. Well, that legislation did not pass though, No, 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.240 it didn't, which seems like it would discourage people from 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.520 trying to clean these things up, right, Yeah, But I 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.160 also read testimony from UM this group called Earthworks, and 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.600 they were lobbying against that loophole, saying it was overly broad. 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.760 That basically like if you just picked up a little 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.120 bit of litter or whatever, you were automatically exempt from 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.040 the Clean Water Act, So it could be used to 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.920 nefarious ends by a moral people. Well, you mentioned the 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:48.080 abandoned mind Lands program under the Bureau of Land Management. UM. 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.360 They get funding roughly in the neighborhood at twelve to 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.200 fifteen million dollars a year. And you know we said 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.800 earlier it takes seventy billion to clean up I think 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.200 just the hard rock site. So they're doing the best 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.720 they can. UM. Over an eight year period, that cleaned 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.600 up more than three thousand minds, which is awesome, but 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:07.840 when you've got potentially five thousand out there, it's a 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:11.320 little scared to think about. So to to remediate a mind, 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:15.000 you have to address the physical stuff and the environmental stuff. 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.040 You have to take care of the tailings piles. You 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:22.360 have to um prevent any more acid groundwater from being produced. 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.120 You have to disassemble and carry off any old machinery, 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.800 any old buildings, maybe UM, and you have to cover 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:34.160 up entrances. But covering up a mind shaft a glory 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:38.800 hole as it's called in the industry, UM is not 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.280 quite as cut and dry as you think. You just 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.560 put a huge, heavy metal slab over it. The problem 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:46.520 is is when you build a mind, in a lot 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:51.560 of cases, you've disturbed bat population. When you UM abandoned 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:55.560 the mind, you basically are leaving this bat population with 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.920 a an awesome little place to live, a playground, if 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.360 you will, exactly UM. Now, bats are really really essential 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:07.080 to our comfort and happiness, and that the average bat 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.280 can kill something like six mosquitoes an hour when it 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.520 really wants to if it's feeling frisky, So we want 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.280 to keep bats around. They're already being decimated by a 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.840 white nose fungus, right. So people who are reclaiming abandoned 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.920 mind have figured out that there's ways that you can 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.359 keep humans out but let bats in and out, and 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.960 so they put on like bat couple of us I'm 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.760 vertical shafts, which is basically just like a little roof 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.040 that has slats to let the bats fly in and out. 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.119 That makes sense, And a bat gate is virtually the 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.480 same thing, except it goes into like an addit bat gate. 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.160 That couple of I think it's a great idea because 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.720 then like, you're not gonna find a kid down in there. No, 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:51.720 you're not disturbing the population of the bat unless the 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.200 kid is the size of a bat. And even still, 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:58.280 why is he not like bat boy? That's his problem? Well, 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:02.720 bat Boy's fine. Um. So the E p A UH 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.400 started something called the super fund UM, which basically means 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:10.680 mining companies now paying too this uh huge bank account 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:13.720 to cover costs of future cleanups. But that's not enough 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:16.639 to meet the needs, so taxpayers end up paying for 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:21.320 the discrepancies. Not don't mind my tax money going towards that. 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:28.560 So apparently nowadays since UM, part of the abandoned mind 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:33.639 Reclamation fund um is that if you're a mining company, 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.720 you're putting in your paying a tax basically for every 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.320 thirty one for every ton of surface coal that you 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:47.000 mind and every ton of underground coal, you're paying um 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:50.720 thirty one point five cents for surface coal and uh 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.240 thirteen point five cents a ton for underground mind stuff, 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:56.840 And all that goes into the super fund to reclaim it. 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.800 That's not bad. Well this this our October, I think 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.040 it's going to go down to twelve cents and twenty 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:08.160 eight cents. Yeah. Um things times are tough all over 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:12.359 for everybody. Yeah, they are. Um in n Josh, as 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.840 you point out, the Department of Interior created an award 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.840 for mining excellence. It's like the Yard of the Month 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.159 for abandoned mond and reclamaining. I think it's called the 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:25.200 Mining Award, and um, all joking aside, it's very cool 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.480 that they do this because, um, a lot of you know, 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:30.960 people are more responsible these days with their mining operations. 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.760 They're not all bad. Mining is a vital thing. We're 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:35.360 not trying to poop poo that. And then we did 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:39.640 like with the mountaintop removal, coal mining came down pretty hard. 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.520 But um, a lot of miners these days are pretty 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:47.440 responsible and they are reclaiming this land and uh going 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.840 back in and planning vegetation and trying to preserve old 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.440 buildings and make those into live work space condos exactly 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.280 what they're doing. Yeah, So that's great. Yeah, keep it up, 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:01.680 is what I say. I agree, and be careful out there. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:07.280 A TV people in rot Corey swimmers. Yeah. There. Um, 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.880 if you see a mind, stay away. I believe that's 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:14.200 the name of the program. Yeah, stay away. Yeah. It's 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:17.720 like you know those cartoony posters with exclamation points and 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:20.439 stuff like that. UM P S A S that's what 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:24.120 they're called. Uh. I think if you do see your mind, 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.760 go on the Internet and look up reporting abandoned minds 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:30.720 and you will find a way to do it, and 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.359 that will be helpful. You'll save some money, save some 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.840 taxpayer money if you report a mind yourself agreed. Uh. 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:39.960 If you want to know more about abandoned minds and 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.760 reclamation and all that stuff, you can type it into 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.480 the search bar at how stuff works dot com. And 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:56.240 I said, search bars means it's time for that's right, Josh. 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.040 This closes out the trilogy. I'll go and start out 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.280 with Donna Fessler. My husband always wants to call my 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:05.080 beet vegetable soup as stew, but it is broth based. 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.719 I don't argue. Um, And basically she's asking about this. 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:12.760 My recommendation Donna is to go check out the podcast 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:18.240 Judge John Hodge, because he has a full podcast on 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:22.600 I believe Chili chili's chowlders, stews and soups and the 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.280 differences right, the first one. It was pretty early on. 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:29.200 Judge John will break it all down for you. Nice plug, Chuck, 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:32.960 Thank you, Ryan Taylor. Question, what time is it a hammertime? 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:35.920 Be time to make the donuts or see ber o'clock 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:39.560 time to make the donuts? Beer o'clock? We've got from 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:42.919 Jeremy Glover. Did either of you grow up watching Andy 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:47.160 Griffith's show? I think he means the Andy Griffiths Show. Yeah, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:49.479 I certainly did. I did too, and reruns. Is there 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.639 anybody yes? Same here? Is there anybody who is alive today? 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:55.200 They didn't grow up watching yet? Yeah? Well he's asking 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:58.600 that because Andy Griffith died today. Oh really Yeah, I 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.160 didn't know. I still alive he was till today. Wow, 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:04.919 that's that's well. He had quite a run. Yeah, he 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.440 was eighty six years old. Good full life, as as 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.320 Sheriff Andy Taylor, Mattlock and uh was that it? Those 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.520 there's two big characters. Didn't you have a third? Those 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:18.160 were the two big ones. Does any like the Landlord 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.480 and threes company for a little while? No, I don't 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.199 think so. Tanya Chob is it is my anniversary? Can 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:26.119 you do a quick shout out to my very patient husband, 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:30.440 Abe Franklin. It would be a fun surprise, all right, Tania, 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:35.920 I guess Tania, Happy anniversary to you and Abe. Happy 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:40.720 anniversary Tanya and Abe. Oh here's a good one, Brandon Nichols, 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:42.320 Who would you most like to punch in the face? 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:46.560 That's sort of like the fight club question? Who would 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:48.800 you fight? Who would I most like to punch in 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:50.880 the face? Would it be a good one? I think 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:55.920 myself many times. Yeah, that's very much like fight club. 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:58.080 Actually I got someone else, but I can't say I 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:01.399 think you know who it is. Oh yeah, like a 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:04.880 punch him in the face. Yeah, you got anyone. I'm 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.119 not saying anything that's anything. So that was kind of 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:13.120 a cop out. Uh. Vitality says, would you rather fight 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:18.240 one hundred duck sized horses or one horsed sized duck? 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:22.400 I love these questions one horse sized duck. I don't 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:25.000 go for the one horse sized duck because you get 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.560 like a sharpened stick in its neck. It's over and 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:31.760