Thursday, December 10, 2009

Pollution






Today's photos do not show beauty but trash left behind when the mine in Tilt Cove closed forever in 1967. I have visited Tilt Cove a few times over the years and made photographs each time. My last visit was in 1993 while working on a series of videos about Mining in Newfoundland and Labrador. Today's photos are from scanned slides I took during that trip.

I found it amazing that all over the tiny community there were pieces of abandoned equipment, rusting metal, deteriorating sheds and buildings, and open tunnels. In the first two photos you can see a tiny brook flowing past rusting pipes and piles of metal. The third photo shows a tunnel and wooden debris, and the fourth photo shows rusting equipment just piled up along the side of a gravel road. The last photo shows a view of the surrounding hills as well as much debris all over the ground.

While I don't think this type of photo shows beauty, it does document the mess left by a mining company after a mine has closed. I hope laws have changed and companies are forced to clean up a mine site (in this case - the entire community) when they leave an area.


1 comment:

Daniel Cobb said...

Mr. Lane:

You pictures speak volumes. The mining industry is responsible for the vast majority of Federal Superfund cleanup sites, and always has been. Mining companies continuously violate federal clean air and clean water laws, discharging billions of gallons of heavy metals and acids into streams, rivers and lakes, utterly decimating those waters. And the poisoning continues for decades, even after remediation has begun. Because I am have such contempt for this industry, I have written a thriller, titled THE MINE. Check Amazon.com You might enjoy the read.
Best regards,
Daniel Cobb

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