WEBVTT - Selects: What happens to abandoned mines? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:04.880 Hi, everybody, Chuck here uh in the podcast time. It's 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.240 August twelve, because we are in the way back machine 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:12.280 taking you back for our Saturday Selects episode all about 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.319 abandoned minds. And to tell you the truth, you guys, 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.280 I picked this one because I didn't remember doing it, 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:20.159 which means I have to listen to it again to 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.119 make sure it's good. And uh, I'm gonna learn it 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:25.200 all over again along with you. So check out this 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:33.879 episode from August twelve, what Happens to Abandoned Minds. Welcome 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:43.080 to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.960 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.839 W Chuck Bryant. Damn, that makes it sounds I just 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.120 had some of my notes mixed up, like criminal records 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.240 was stuffed in the middle of this one, Like, wouldn't 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.240 that be funny if I was talking about abandoned minds? 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.639 And then just like a robot was like, and if 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.280 you have a d U I, you can call your 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.360 local police shop and get that expunged. Yeah, I think 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.280 that's bad advice. Well, now I'm just saying, do you 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:18.280 not ever call the police unless it's an emergency. You're right, Chuck, Yes, Um, 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:22.320 how are you doing good? Three today? Huh yeah, before 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.080 holiday even In fact, the office is closed right now 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.959 and we're still working. I know. It's like crickets outside. 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.200 And someone threw a spear at me when I stuck 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.640 my head out to go to the bathroom. Good that 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.560 was his assignment. Yeah, so Chuck, yes, if I may 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.240 take it down, not your two, Okay. Have you ever 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:45.280 heard of a guy named Taylor Crane? A kid? Taylor 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.400 as a kid who was sixteen years old when he died. 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.280 He was on a tour of Mexico UM with his 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.840 parents in New Mexico or mex Mexico, Mexico Old Mexico UM. 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.160 And he was on a tour I didn't realize he's existed, UM, 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:06.080 but a of abandoned haciendas and minds. So it's basically 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:11.000 like an urban exploration tour of old Mexico UM. And 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.000 they were at an old mind site the tour group 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.280 was and Taylor was apparently playing tag and um jumped 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.600 up on a low wall and apparently on the other 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.440 side of that was a thousand foot mind shaft which 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.959 fell into a thout ten feet across jess wide open 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.480 a thousand feet down. They had a lot of trouble 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.000 getting to them to recover him because there's so much 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.720 lead and arsenic at the bottom that it was really 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:43.600 difficult to breathe to get down there to get them. 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.639 So you think, like, wow, it's really crazy that Mexico 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:51.720 has these open minds. Mind blowing as it is, Mexico 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.320 is not the only place. As a matter of fact, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.960 here in the States we have something on the scale 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:03.720 of five hundred thousand abandoned minds. That's the high end, 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.880 but the low end even is still I think like 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:14.400 three hundred thousand abandoned minds. Abandoned minds probably two of 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.839 the most dangerous words you can put together, and they're 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.480 all over the place. The US is lousy with them. Yeah, 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.480 and about thirty people die in the United States every 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:27.560 year from accidents involving abandoned minds. And I did a 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:35.800 little looking Apparently they include uh uh quarries and most 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.320 of these are drownings. Um because the quarry either has 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.560 water or an abandoned mind shaft. You know, they'll pump 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.240 out water to work in it, and then when they're done, 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:51.119 it fills back up with water. So uh, some say 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.960 crazy scuba divers, we'll try and scuba dive these things. 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.560 My dad was actually certified in an old marble quarry 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.760 in Toledo, and the to be certified you had to 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:05.560 go down to a school bus at the bottom of 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:09.280 this quarry. Um, you had to dive down to go 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.440 into the school bus and grab something from it. It 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.840 was like right inside, and then bring it back up 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.560 and they'd be like, Okay, you're certifying. Your dad did that. Yeah, 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.880 that's pretty awesome. I'm trying to picture that. I can't 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.520 imagine anything more creepy than having to go into a 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.000 school bus at the bottom of a filled quarry. No, 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.160 I'm just trying to picture your dad like I'll, you know, 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.320 scuba diving and it's been like a buzz cut and 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.640 more like a big watch and everything. Yeah, he was. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.520 I guess anytime you're older and you meet someone father 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.200 when they're a little older, it's hard to imagine them 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.279 as young because I didn't know him back then. But 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.240 I picture him on the couch. Oh no, huh, No, 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.160 he's a He carried a spear gun everywhere he went 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:51.919 with him, did he really? That's awesome. Alright, so, um, sadly, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.040 like I said, about thirty people die each year, many 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.359 of them are drownings. I think number two on the 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:00.120 list as a TV accidents, which doesn't surprise me, is 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:02.640 tool along in the a TV on some you know, 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.680 random thinking. You're in the middle of nowhere place and 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:11.160 all of a sudden the bottom falls out. Literally. Um. Yeah, 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.279 those were the top two far and away that I 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.839 came across too. But since two thousande apparently two seven 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:20.080 people have died in the United States because of accidents 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.640 involving abandoned minds. I saw one in two thousand and eight. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.800 These two guys were uh, trying to get a former 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.840 gold mine going again because they thought there was still 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.280 gold down there, and they were pumping out water with 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.440 a some sort of machine with a generator, and they 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.800 died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Yeah, that's that's another one. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.200 I think it's way down on the list. It's like 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.200 a distant third. But but I think it's it's um 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.560 being overcome unable to breathe, asphyxiation, that's the word I'm 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:50.920 looking for. By bringing in your own thing or just 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.440 by the toxic chemicals down there toxic chemicals or um, 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:59.600 carbon monoxide or oxygen depletion in general from people either 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.760 try at old ones started up or yea more likely 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.040 adventuring abandoned mind. Let's go ahead and give a tip 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.600 to people because we like to encourage the urban explorers, 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.080 which you know, we've done a podcast on that. But man, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.839 you don't need to be hanging around abandoned minds. Now. 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.880 They're very, very dangerous. Yes, I mean, that's just so 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.919 mind bogglingly dangerous to resist the urge, And like, I 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.560 have that urge too because I love the urban exploration. 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:28.600 If I saw a hole in the ground, I would 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:30.640 want to go check it out. But it's not a 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:32.640 good place to be, not a good thing to do. 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.320 So what's crazy is we said, like up to five 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.320 hundred thousand abandoned minds and these are just the minds, 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.159 not mine features. So say every mind has several mind features, 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.160 Say and add it, which is a vertical shaft or 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.359 I'm sorry, a horizontal shaft. Um, And you've got a 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.679 vertical shaft like the one that um, poor Taylor Crane 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.600 fell into. Um, you have all these different mind features 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:01.360 on up to five hundred thousand minds. Crazy thing is 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.320 is as of February two thousand eleven, the Bureau of 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.679 Land Management, which is tasked with finding these abandoned minds, 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.640 has only found about thirty one thousand of them. That 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.360 means that there's possibly four hundred and sixty nine thousand 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.600 abandoned minds in the United States that no one has 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.920 on any map. True, but like on on the good side, 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.480 they're trying to find them. Now. In two thousand and eight, 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:27.320 they only had eighteen thousand of them. So in that 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:32.040 span of three years they found another, uh, thirteen thousand. 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.920 I had twelve thousand and two thousand and eight. Oh really, 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:39.560 well even better than yeah, um, and I think of 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:45.000 those have been remediated, have pending reclamation, or they say 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:51.200 aren't a danger and they say so, Um, that's just 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.360 the physical dangers. Yeah, there's two kinds. There's physical dangers 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.440 and environmental dangers. And I think and I guess it's 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:03.240 of the ones they found they said have physical hazards 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:08.240 and five have environmental hazards. There. Yeah, okay, which you know, 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.680 it's not a ton, but is pretty dangerous. Well, a 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.800 physical hazard is insidious for the local just the local 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.640 people who are walking around it sure like falling in, yeah, 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.000 or maybe caving in. And by the way, I found 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:26.000 out that any mine feature that is like a hole 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.320 in the ground or even like if there's a depression 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.880 in the ground because of mine collapse some Yeah, they're 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:37.559 called glory holes. Did you know that? That was almost 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.600 a spit take, wasn't it. Yeah, that's not true. I 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.440 swear to god it is. Wow. I saw a sign 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.880 today of an abandoned mind called the glory whole mine. 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.800 Well that's that's quite a name. Yeah, good for them. Uh, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.160 mine tailings you talk about, and this is some of 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.199 the environmental hazards, and these can actually be physical hazards 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:00.040 too if you're living nearby. These are the remnants of 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.000 what was going on there of the mineral, and often 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.880 it can be very toxic and then that can either 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.040 be harmful to you or it can run off into 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.280 the water and be harmful to people, you know, downriver. 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.320 That was my point is things like um like addits 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:20.200 and other mine features. Um, they're dangerous if you're walking 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.800 around the mine. Environmental hazards of a mind can be 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:26.840 very far reaching because, in very much the same way 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:30.000 that acid rain is produced from like smoke stacks. These 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.160 mines can produce acid rain um and they can also 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:38.320 produce acid groundwater. When sulfide sulfide minerals and oxygen combined 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.920 with water, it produces acidic groundwater that can pollute an 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:46.240 entire water system downstream and then also chuck. There's mercury 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.680 tailings or a big problem, especially with gold mines. So 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.720 you know, like if you take mercury and take gold 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.120 and put them together, mercury absorbs the gold, and you 0:09:56.160 --> 0:10:01.240 get a rainbow, right, a deadly rain bow, uh, And 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.120 it makes what's called an amalgam. And then later on 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.400 so you have like you can take a little gold 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:09.800 flex or whatever and now they're like highly portable, stable 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.520 little things of mercury. And then you take them somewhere 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.120 else and you can burn the mercury off and the 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:21.000 mercury will vaporize and just the gold is left. Well, 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.840 the problem is is that mercury then immediately contaminates wherever 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.280 you just burned it off, and there's the atmosphere and everything. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.319 But those kind of tailings are especially problematic and old 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.000 gold mines too. And does that end up in gold 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.560 schlager bottles. Probably is that where they get it. I 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:40.200 don't know. I hope they're not putting formerly mercury gold 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.360 amalgam in the gold schlaw. No, the people that gold 0:10:43.360 --> 0:11:07.160 Schlager wouldn't do that. Uh So, Josh, if this is 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:09.760 such a problem, why wouldn't these companies clean up their 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.560 mind sites. It seems like a no brainer to me. 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:14.720 You're there, you do the work, you close it down, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.200 you clean it up, make sure it's safe for everybody. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.880 That's how you do it now. Yes, supposedly, Uh it 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.120 was not the case until nineteen seventy seven. For about 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:29.200 two years. People mind um even more than that. People 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.640 mind in the United States, willy nilly however they wanted, 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.679 and they would they would say, well, this mind's used up. 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.600 I don't need it any longer. I'm walking away. Well, 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:44.160 the quick answer to my question answer now is money. 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.280 That's the real reason, because it's really expensive to clean 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.080 up your mind site. If you're a mining operation and 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:54.160 you can pre what you can just fold up shop 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.600 and leave, why would you spend money to clean it up? 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.200 If you were a company without me like an cole 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.720 compass in a moral compass, because you know it's gonna 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.280 hit your bottom line. So screw it, let's just leave it. 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:09.160 You know, I can't help but feel like you set 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.560 me up by asking me that question and expecting the 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.040 short answer, because I've never given a short answer. Well, 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.720 that is a short answer. UM two thousand and six 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:22.080 congressional testimony said it would cost seventy two billion dollars 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.680 to clean up only the hard rock minds, like at 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:30.880 the hard rock cafes. Right, that's seventy two billion dollars. Well, 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.960 the Bureau of Land Management, which we said is UM 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:39.640 responsible for finding these minds and for reclaiming them. Basically, UM, 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.600 they divide minds that they have to deal with in 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.199 the three categories. There's hard rock, which is like gold, 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:51.559 silver minerals, iron maybe yeah, I don't think they deal 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:55.640 with iron um. And then there's coal mines and then 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.559 uranium mines. Got it. Well, I saw on the East 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.520 coast they had a map of where a lot of 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.040 these abandoned minds are, and there's a lot of them 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:04.480 on the East coast, and there were I think a 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:08.120 lot of the coal mines. Oh yeah. Like there's Centraliy 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.840 of Pennsylvania, which we talked about before, is an abandoned 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.800 town with a coal steam burning underneath. Oh yeah, that's right. 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:21.760 Creepy um. So they abandoned the mines. Over time, land 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:28.440 records and lease records were lost. Basically take a reverse foreclosure. Yeah, 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:30.440 pretty much. And so in the end like no one's 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.480 on the hook. No one knows many times who these 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.360 minds originally like, who was responsible for this to begin with? 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:38.400 And even if they do know, the minors gonna be 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.439 like the do you have documentation that's other on that mine? 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:45.720 And the government goes no, and the mine owners says, 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:49.520 see you, or the other little loophole you wrote this right, yeah, 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.240 that you pointed out, which was if you have gone 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.559 through bankruptcy, then you can't be held liable. That is 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.040 no longer true. Oh is that not true? Yeah? Yeah, 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.680 I was happy to find in that there's there's You 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.600 now have to post a bond basically as a mining 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.840 company from what I understand from research I did very recently, 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:11.800 that you have to post a bond kind of like 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:15.480 a fidelity bond that as money you pay in upfront 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:19.080 that you get back if your mining operation successfully reclaims 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.880 the land. If you don't reclaim it, if reclamation isn't 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.960 like the end of your um mind or you go bankrupt, 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.840 that money is still there to pay for reclamation. So 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.680 you're gonna correct the article. I think I should. I 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.040 think you should. People need to know that. UM. Here's 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.320 a little thing too, called the Clean Water Act, which UM, 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.960 obviously you're going to be violating that if you're letting 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.280 your toxins from your mind leak out into the groundwater, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.920 big penalties. But um, as you pointed out that in 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.200 two thousand and six, that was legislation to exempt people 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.760 from prosecution who were actually trying to clean up their minds, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:58.720 Like I want to go clean up my mind, and 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.080 we're gonna exempt you, Uh, as long as you weren't 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.440 the people who started the mind to begin with. From 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.040 I guess exempt from the Clean Water Act? Yes, from 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.320 polluting because with tailings a lot of in a lot 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:16.440 of cases, UM, just removing them is going to some's 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.360 gonna slip into the watershed. And if it's from say 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.280 a uranium, mind, well that's it's radioactive, and then your 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.200 water is radioactive and you're in you have to pay 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.160 a huge fine. Is it better to leave it? I 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:33.200 wonder it's better to not get any into the water shed? Well, 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.880 but can you clean it up without doing that? Yes, 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.000 I feel like what the government has been doing. The 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.480 Beer of Land Management does, and they have a division 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:46.720 called the Abandoned mine Lands UM. They basically just build 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.520 a structure around it, kind of like what they did 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.360 with Chernobyl, but on a much smaller scale, where it's 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.640 basically like this is gonna stay here for a little while, 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.920 we'll just put this around it until it's not radioactive anylong. Okay, 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.760 that's the pressure I have what they're doing, at least 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.680 with radioactive stuff. Well, that legislation did not pass though, No, 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.640 it didn't, which seems like it would discourage people from 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:11.960 trying to clean these things up, right. Yeah, but I 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.560 also read testimony from UM this group called Earthworks, and 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.600 they were lobbying against that loophole, saying it was overly 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.840 broad Really that basically like if you just picked up 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.400 a little bit of litter whatever, you were automatically exempt 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.400 from the Clean Water Act, so it could be used 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:32.280 to nefarious ends by a moral people. Well, you mentioned 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:36.480 the Abandoned mind Lands program under the Bureau of Land Management. UM, 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.800 they get funding roughly in the neighborhood of twelve to 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.600 fifteen million dollars a year, and you know we said 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.240 earlier it takes seventy billion to clean up I think 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.640 just a hard rock site. So they're doing the best 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.160 they can. UM. Over an eight year period they cleaned 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:54.000 up more than three thousand minds, which is awesome, But 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.200 when you've got potentially five dred thousand out there, it's 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:59.320 a little scared to think about. So to to remediate 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.320 a mind, you have to address the physical stuff and 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.359 the environmental stuff. You have to take care of the 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:08.680 tailings piles, you have to UM prevent any more acid 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.879 groundwater from being produced. You have to disassemble and carry 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:17.359 off any old machinery, any old buildings, maybe UM, and 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.239 you have to cover up entrances. But covering up a 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.320 mind shaft a glory hole as it's called in the 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.080 industry UM is not quite as cut and dry as 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.560 you think. You just put a huge, heavy metal slab 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.440 over it. The problem is is when you build a mind, 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.520 in a lot of cases, you've disturbed bat population. When 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.679 you UM abandon the mine, you basically are leaving this 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.320 bat population with a an awesome little place to live, 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.640 a playground. If you will exactly UM now bats are 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:54.560 really really essential to our comfort and happiness, and that 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.840 the average bat can kill something like six mosquitoes an 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.440 hour when it really wants to if it's frisky. So 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.359 we want to keep bats around. They're already being decimated 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:08.000 by a white nose fungus. Right, So people who are 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.080 reclaiming abandoned mind have figured out that there's ways that 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.560 you can keep humans out but let bats in and out. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.840 And so they put on like bat couple of vertical shafts, 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.240 which is basically just like a little roof that has 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.720 slats to let the bats fly in and out. Yeah, 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:26.560 that makes sense, And a bat gate is virtually the 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.480 same thing, except it goes into like an addit bat 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:35.280 gate that couple of I think it's a great idea 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:36.920 because then like, you're not gonna find a kid down 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.520 in there. No, you're not disturbing the population of the 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.320 bat unless the kid is the size of a bat. 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.560 And even still, why is he not like bat boy? 0:18:45.080 --> 0:19:10.800 That's his problem? Well, bat Boy's fine. Yeah. Um, So 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:13.280 the E p A UH started something called the super 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:17.040 fund UM, which basically means mining companies now pay into 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:21.560 this UH huge bank account to cover costs of future cleanups. 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:24.760 But that's not enough to meet the needs, so taxpayers 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:29.600 end up paying for the discrepancies. Not on mind my 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:35.919 tax money going towards that. So apparently nowadays since um, 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:41.399 part of the Abandoned Mind Reclamation Fund UM is that 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.040 if you're a mining company, you're putting in your paying 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:49.200 at tax basically for every uh thirty one for every 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.400 ton of surface coal that you mine and every ton 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.480 of underground coal, you're paying um thirty one point five 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.520 cents for surface coal and thirteen point five cents a 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.880 ton for underground mind stuff, and all that goes into 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.560 the super fun to reclaim it. That's not bad. Well 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:11.040 this this October, I think it's going to go down 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:15.760 to twelve cents and twenty eight cents attacks. Yeah. Um. 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.000 Things times are tough all over for everybody. Yeah, they are. UM. 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:22.320 In nineteen eight six, Josh, as you point out, the 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:26.320 Department of Interior created an award for mining excellence. It's 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:28.720 like Yard of the Month for abandoned mond and reclamaining. 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:33.320 I think it's called the Mining Award and um all 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.440 joking aside, it's very cool that they do this because um, 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.119 a lot of you know, people are more responsible these 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:41.800 days with their mining operations. They're not all bad. Mining 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:44.080 is a vital thing. We're not trying to poop poo that. 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.400 And then we did like with the mountaintop removal. Coal 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.560 mining came down pretty hard. But um, a lot of 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.520 miners these days are pretty responsible and they are reclaiming 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.520 this land and uh going back in and planning vegetation 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.960 and trying to preserve old buildings and make those into 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:05.359 live work space condos exactly what they're doing. Yeah, so 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.240 that's great. Yeah, keep it up is what I say. 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.840 I agree, and be careful out there a TV people 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:18.120 in rock Cory swimmers. Yeah there. Um, if you see 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.560 a mind, stay away. I believe that's the name of 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.960 the program. Really yeah, stay away. Yeah. It's like you 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:27.720 know those cartoony posters with exclamation points and stuff like that. 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:31.520 Um P S A S that's what they're called. Uh. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:33.840 I think if you do see a mind, go on 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:38.159 the internet and look up reporting abandoned minds and you 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.440 will find a way to do it, and that will 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:43.480 be helpful. You'll save some money, save some taxpayer money 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.520 if you report a mind yourself, agreed. Uh. If you 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:50.080 want to know more about abandoned minds and reclamation and 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:53.280 all that stuff. You can type it into the search 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:55.160 bar at how stuff works dot com. And I said, 0:21:55.160 --> 0:22:05.560 search bars means it's a time for That's right, Josh. 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.400 This closes out the trilogy. I'll go and start out 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.639 with Donna Fessler. My husband always wants to call my 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.399 beef vegetable soup as stew, but it is broth based. 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:18.080 I don't argue um, and basically she's asking about this. 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:22.120 My recommendation, Donna is to go check out the podcast 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:27.560 Judge John Hodgment because he has a full podcast on 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:32.560 I Believe Chili Chili's Chowders, stews and soups and the differences. Right, 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.680 the first one, it was pretty early on. Judge John 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:38.560 will break it all down for you. Nice plug, Chuck, 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:42.320 Thank you. Ryan Taylor. Question, what time is it a hammertime? 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:45.240 Be time to make the donuts or see bure o'clock 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.879 time to make the donuts beer o'clock? We've going from 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.280 Jeremy Glover. Did either of you grew up watching Andy 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:56.440 Griffiths Show? I think he means the Andy Griffiths Show. Yeah, 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:58.800 I certainly did. I did too, and reruns. Is there 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:01.960 anybody yes, same here. Is there anybody who is alive today? 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:04.560 They didn't grow up watching yet? Yeah, well he's asking 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:07.840 that because any Griffith did today? Oh really? Yeah, I 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:11.480 didn't know he's still alive he was till today. Wow, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:14.240 that's that's well. He had quite a run. Yeah, he 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:17.760 was eighty six years old. Good full life, as as 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:21.640 Sheriff Andy Taylor Matlock And uh was that it? Those 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:24.840 there's two big characters. Didn't you have a third? Those 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:27.520 were the two big ones? Does any like the landlord 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:30.840 on threes company for a little while? No, I don't 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:33.600 think so. Tanya Chobez, it is my anniversary. Can you 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:35.439 do a quick shout out to my very patient husband, 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:39.760 Abe Franklin. It would be a fun surprise, all right, Tania, 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:44.760 I think it's Tania. Happy anniversary to you and Abe. 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:49.399 Happy anniversary Tanya and Abe. Oh here's a good one. 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:51.240 Brandon Nichols, Who would you most like to punch in 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:55.520 the face? That's sort of like the fight club question? 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:58.080 Who would you fight? Would I most like to punch 0:23:58.080 --> 0:24:00.080 in the face? Would it be a good one? I 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:05.320