Part 1
Powder River Basin
From the distant views of Google Earth, Powder River Basin looks like nothing more than a open space with a large network of roads weaving through it, but just moving slightly closer and the truth reveals itself. “Large” does not describe the spider web of roads that litters the landscape, each ending in a well pad that is vacant of vegetation and looks like a bleach spot on the face of the earth. While each spot appears to be small, there are so many it looks like you would not have to travel but a mile before you found yourself in the middle of another one. It is not just the mining spots that seem to cause an issue for local wildlife, but also the roads that connect them together. Where there may not be a well, there is a road to get to the next one.
What seems like only fifty miles to the east lays a similar patch of land. However, this patch of land has only a handful of roads and looks full of vegetation. No white patches litter the landscape it almost seems as if pieces may have never been touched our seen by modern man. Wildlife can roam free and live life unabated by human interaction and harmful side effects of mining.
The runoff from the mining process deposits harmful toxins in the local rivers and streams. The result is a changed river ecosystem. At the point where the runoff is absorbed by the river, the toxins overwhelm the oxygen levels making impossible for more than microorganisms to survive. As the toxin polluted water moves down stream microorganism begin to eat the waste causing small amounts of oxygen back into the water. Soon rough fish can survive on the microorganisms and the remaining waste. Further still downstream the water becomes more oxygenated and life begins to return. The more toxin that is dumped into the local rivers and streams, the more congested they get and the more we risk nature not having the resources to filter it out. The most extreme circumstance would be a “dead” river that spills into lakes and oceans.
Mountain Top Removal
It is heartbreaking to see what once was a beautiful mountain peak reduced to a flat top. The strip mining process changes everything about the surrounding environment. Miners first remove the vegetation from the tops of the mountains, displacing all of the wildlife and habitats. Then blast the peaks to expose the coal rich earth beneath them. But what happens to the soil and rock that is removed from the peak? This “overburden” is dumped. It is dumped in valleys, burring more vegetation, and wildlife. It is dumped in local streams, chocking up the water supply and stopping the flow. If the river is large enough, eventually the water will push its way through the overburden, taking with it harmful sediment downstream. Overburden does not kill the local ecosystems gradually, but with one swoop can destroy what has been there for millions of years.
Part 2: Close to Home
The Plant
It took me a few days to figure out where I was going to find a place that was being torn apart for its natural resources. Off the top of my head I knew that there was a mine in Jerome, but it has been closed for decades. There is a mine in Bagdad, but that did not seem close enough to me to feel connected to it. Then I realized that there is a very large cement plant right here in the Verde Valley and beautiful rolling hills nearby that are undisturbed.
Cement is the key ingredient to making concrete and the Salt River Materials Group owns a cement plant in the Verde Valley called the Phoenix Cement. The plant extracts the limestone from the surrounding land, and then processes it into cement. The plant opened its doors in 1959 to meet the demand for cement needed to build the Glenn Canyon Dam. Since then the plant has been in full operation and supplying cement to Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. The employees of the plant mine limestone from the hills behind the factory. They blast, scrap, and dig away the surface soil and remove the valuable (at least for cement production) limestone beneath it. From Google Earth you can see the vast fields of nothing but exposed dirt and rock. The only (and most prominent) feature that citizens can see of this plant is a tall tower and two domes. Even these are seen from at least a mile away. The area is surrounded by a metal fence and any entry points are posted with large signs forbidding visitors and trespassers. To gain access beyond the fence line you must have express approval from the company. (So aside from dressing up like UPS and trying to get in or hiking from Williams and going in the back door, it wasn’t going to happen). Animals may have it easier getting in, not that they would want to. The back side of the mine that faces distant mountains seems that it may be open, but once you get close to where they extract the limestone from the ground, there is nothing. No vegetation, pockets of what appears to be toxic water, and dust, a lot of dust. It is possible that microorganisms feed on the waste in those polluted waters, but doubtful that much else lives there. On the bright side, I am told that up until a couple of years ago, the plant “allowed” buffalo to graze there. However, I was unable to get a reason why this practice stopped.
Below is my map of the area around the plant, including the mining areas and the factory:
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| Okay-Drawing is now where close to my strong suit (perhaps using a computer program to create this map would have been a better avenue for me)! |
Fortunately, I was able to snap a few pictures from a distance, but also spoke to one of the guys I work with. Eager to prove that the company his dad has worked for (for over 20 years) is ecologically friendly, he provided me with pictures of “behind the fence”.
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| This photo is from the back side of the factory provided by my coworker |
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| This was as close as I could get and see the factory |
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| This is the closes picture (again from my coworker) of the mine |
The Oasis
Alright, so perhaps oasis is a bit of an overstatement, but in comparison to the mine and plant that lies only a few miles away southeast, it is an oasis. This hill resembles the hills of a time before human destruction. Although I was not able to get close to this hill without a hike, it seemed like it was relatively undisturbed by humans in any form. . There were no posted keep out signs. If you were willing to hike over some dry riverbeds and up a jagged cliff, you could enjoy this place without interruption or fear of “criminal prosecution”.
The hillside on the surface is rich with desert vegetation. Mesquite and cacti litter the landscape providing shelter and food for birds, javelina, coyotes, snakes, scorpions and rabbits. Along the dry creek bed you can find scattered Cottonwood trees ready to absorb any water the creek bed may have to offer.. A perfect ecosystem in complete balance. Just under the surface lies limestone rich rock. Like most places in the Arizona desert, the nearest source of above ground water is the Verde River a few miles away. But the ground promises large deposits of ground water (however it is probable that it has suffered contamination from runoff of the old Jerome mine and the current cement plant).
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| It was not feasable to get to the beautiful hills behind the plant, but even from here you can see the stark difference than the above pictures of the mine. |
Despite my initial trouble trying to decide on a location for this project, I found an area that was both close to home and had direct ties to my community. I understand that the mining of this limestone is essential to the way we live our lives. I am not ignorant to the idea that my home is built on a foundation of cement distributed by the Phoenix Cement plant. However, I still find myself sadden and disheartened. Not only by the destruction of the land as a result of the extraction process, but also my own ignorance about the beauty of Arizona. Having lived here my whole life, I take the country side for desert. It is true; we have some remarkable land and the most beautiful sunsets. If nothing else, at least this lab showed me what I have been missing, and maybe I can hand that same appreciate down to my children.
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| And yet another example of my fantastic artwork.. |
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