Deadly Dregs
Photograph by Peter Essick
Citizens of Moab, Utah, complain about this ten-million-ton (nine-million-metric ton) pile of uranium tailings from the processing of uranium ore, perching like a ziggurat near the Colorado River. The pile leaks ammonia into the river, threatening endangered fish. Responsibility for cleanup passed to the Department of Energy after the pile's owner went bankrupt. Moabites want it moved. DOE says that would cost 64 million dollars and is assessing the possibility of an on-site cleanup.