WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[music]

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High in the Rocky Mountains winter snow and summer
rain give birth to a river. This high country water

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flows through valleys and canyons
and sustains countless ecosystems.

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Millions of plants, animals and people.
Without this water modern-day Denver,

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Phoenix and Los Angeles would not
exist and could not continue to grow

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and as groundwater beneath urban
areas in the west is contaminated,

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mountain water is becoming more important.
It is generally considered pure,

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safe, a secure resource but it
is not; the source of the water

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is in danger. Although these massive
mountains that give us our water

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seem indestructible. They
are actually quite fragile.

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The most threatened ecosystems in the high
country, the most used and most abused of

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the subalpine valleys that lie between
9,000 and 11,000 feet above sea level.

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Many subalpine valleys have already
been destroyed, sacrificed to

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toxic chemicals and radioactive wastes and
irreversible damage from mining operations

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and recreational development on the
horizon looms a new threat acid rain.

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These problems hidden in the high country

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are slowly bleeding a steady stream of
toxic heavy metals and radioactive waste

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into the headwaters of the Western
watershed. The Western Water Supply.

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The degradation of the water system in the United States generally and
in the West specifically, I think is one of the under-told stories

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in America because we have such a
limited amount and that we have

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so many toxic insults that we have
sort of lane and weighed-out here

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in this great west to put into it.
The pristine quality of

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natural water is a very
precious resource and it is

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much cheaper to keep garbage out
of the water in the first place

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than to try to get it out of the water once
it\'s there. Some people ask the question,

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\"why do we think we have an acid rain
problem in the West, When we\'ve got

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a good deal less pollution than in the
Northeast\" and what they don\'t understand though

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is that our lakes in many
ways are much more sensitive,

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much more vulnerable to small amounts of
acid then the lakes in the northeast.

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I love this high country and
I had beautiful chances

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to explore it and wander around in
it and I know the high valleys in

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the terrible fragility of it. We are
absolutely dependent upon these high places

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for our water supply for agriculture, for
everything. So is every place downstream.

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The water supply for most of
the southwestern United States

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originates in Colorado\'s Rocky
Mountains, where subalpine valleys

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along the continental divide form the
watersheds of four major western rivers

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the Arkansas, Platte, Rio
Grande and Colorado.

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Ten agricultural states downstream depend on
the pure waters of the high mountain valleys.

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This is the water that 10 million people
in the west drink in places as far away

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as Los Angeles, Phoenix and El Paso. One
million people in the Denver metropolitan area

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drink water diverted from the mountains.
After just one century.

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Since the white man settled the west,
industrialization and urbanization.

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Now threaten the mountain water upon
which all life in the West depends.

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These problems confront
high country regions

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throughout the western United States and throughout the
world but they are most acute in the Colorado Rockies.

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Sixty million years ago

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the collision of continental plates forced
the land at the heart of North America

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3 miles into the air and
formed the Rocky Mountains.

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Those tremendous geologic forces created both the unique
beauty and the rich mineral veins of the Rockies.

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Millions of years of wind rain and snow

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carved deep valleys in the high country.

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During the Ice Age continuous snowfalls built ice packs
that filled the valleys and grew slowly into glaciers.

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Under the immense weight of
these flowing rivers of ice,

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the valleys were changed dramatically as
the glaciers carved away the granite walls

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and widened the valley floor.
When the glaciers retreated

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and melted away just 8,000 years ago, granite rocks
of all shapes and sizes blanketed the valley floor,

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running water sculpted the
rock into gravel and sand

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forming aquifers underground reservoirs of
flowing water, a natural filtration system

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that purifies water as it
percolates through the earth.

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These aquifers provided a year-round water source for the
ecosystems that have evolved in the glacial valleys.

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As the glaciers melted away

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westerly winds carried spores and seeds,
rain and dust ingredients of life

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into the Virgin valleys.
Over the next 1000 years

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through the miracle of plant succession
spore became liken, became moss

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and slowly grasses, flowers, Aspen,
spruce and fur established themselves

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in the glacial valleys.
Free flowing streams

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provided habitat for a rich
variety of aquatic life.

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[music]

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Beaver migrated into the mountains,
built dams to hold back the water

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and created a new niche for birds,
insects and other water dwellers.

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[music]

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The beaver is a very integral
part of an Alpine system

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because as the snow rushes off during
the (inaudible) busy as a beaver.

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He\'s out there maintaining his dams, holding the
water back. He does a lot of different things,

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he stores water so it can be reabsorbed
and come out in another aquifer.

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He saves the erosion on rush down, the taking
away of nutrients and whatnot; he backs them up.

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He\'s doing it of course for his own purposes but in so
working for himself, he works for all the other people

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\"the ducks, aerosols, the mink, Muskrat.

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He works for all plants in the valley, all
the great broad plants depend on him.

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He has created dependency but an
interrelationship. The best use of this valley

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is its own use as high
aquifer, as a gene pool

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it\'s its own reason for being and in so

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being it\'s useful to us.

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Each stream, each valley is like a
living organism and is sensitive

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to changes in water chemistry.
These ecosystems can tolerate

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a limited amount of acidity,
chemicals or heavy metals

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exceed the limits and the balance
of the ecosystem is destroyed.

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[music]

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Healthy subalpine watersheds have played a
crucial role in the human history of the West.

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For the high mountain valleys and aquifers
provide a steady flow of pure water

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in this otherwise arid region.
As American pioneers

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opened the west, the Rockies became
a powerful symbol of the wilderness

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in the American psyche, the beauty and power of
the mountains were a source of national pride.

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Painters such as Albert Bierstadt romanticized
the mountains captured their mystique

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and stimulated the imagination of
adventurers throughout the world.

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Beaver pelts attracted the first fortune
hunters. Mountain men, the likes of Jim Bridges

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and Kit Carson who explored the valleys and
trapped the beaver to the brink of extinction

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and in 1859, prospectors found gold in
the stream beds of the Colorado Rockies

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and the mountains and waters
would never be the same again.

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[music]

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One thing about gold is people

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that are just strictly honest on
everything else, when they see gold

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they feel like they should have some of it.
The feel and like a gambler gets;

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yes, you know playing poker and is always
looking for where the big Fortune.

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In the early days (inaudible)
thought at all about environment,

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you know and they thought that they hit
them huge (inaudible) body\'s down there

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to start a town and they thought they\'d
be forever you know they\'d put up a male

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and just dumped the tail and gotten
a hillside at wherever they went.

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They didn\'t build a dam or trying to contain them or anything
because nobody thought anything about the environment.

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[music]

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The miners tore into the
earth in search of ore,

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gold dredging destroyed the three
Valleys near Breckenridge.

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After hard rock miners

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had extracted the riches from deep mines,
they simply moved on to another claim.

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Today, the abandoned mine shafts

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represent a serious threat to High Country
water. The old mines have filled with

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acidic water that overflows into streams.
The state of Colorado

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estimates that there are 15,000 abandoned metal
mines in the High Country of the Central Rockies.

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In Colorado, there are
literally hundreds of mines

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that we\'ve studied which are contributing
significant quantities of heavy metals and acidity

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to receiving streams;
Altogether, 25 major watersheds

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have been seriously affected. We\'ve
located at least 450 stream miles.

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Very adversely impacted by this
problem of acid mine drainage.

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If all of the small receiving streams
that directly get water from

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abandoned mines was added I\'m sure
many thousands of stream miles

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have been affected adversely.
Underground water fills

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abandoned mine shafts and reacts with sulfide
minerals and oxygen to form sulfuric acid.

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This highly acidic water then dissolves
exposed metals in the mine shaft

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and flows out into streams, once
started Acid mine drainage never ends.

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The (inaudible) of the west was in fact
coming in here putting placer mines,

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putting up mines. There was no laws about
pollution of any kind and the best way that

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people felt that they could dispose of the
pollution was just to throughout and wherever that

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they happened to see the handiest place
and so the history of the West is

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a history of a lot of exploitation and an awful lot of feeling
on the part of the miners that they weren\'t going to live here,

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they came here only to make their fortune. A lot of
people didn\'t think that any people could live here

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on any kind of sustained basis and they didn\'t spend a
lot of time worrying about how they were disposing of

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their various pollution causing items.
Now that legacy is

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coming back to haunt us that we have a
mind that has not operated since the 1870s

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over and Leadville that puts a daily dose
of very heavy and very toxic pollution

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into our streams in Colorado.
For more than a century,

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Leadville has been Colorado\'s richest mining
district. It\'s mines and smelters have

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supplied the United States economy
with a steady flow of precious metals.

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For generations, fathers taught sons the
skills of a difficult and dangerous trade

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and the unique culture of mining
survive both boom and bust.

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Every summer at Oro city Leadville
residents celebrate their mining heritage

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from the gold camps of California gulch to the climax
molybdenum mine. Watch after into another container

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and hand painted later. How
you separate your goal

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that down or you can (inaudible).

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[music]

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[music]

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My family has been in the State since 1858.
Most of them miners

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and I don\'t want to see my state ruined and our
water ruined you know I want to see my kids

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to have a nice healthy environment but I also
understand that there\'s only two things in life

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that make life what it is today and
that\'s agriculture and that\'s mining.

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We gotta have food to eat and industry must have raw materials
to produce the things that we need for our lifestyle.

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The Leadville mines that once provided
a livelihood and supplied the nation

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in times of war are now a serious problem.

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The yak tunnel built in 1908 reaches
4.5 miles into the mountains

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to drain hundreds of underground mine shafts though
the mines are long since collapsed and abandon;

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tremendous quantities of polluted water
continue to flow into California gulch.

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Together the yak tunnel in
the nearby lead will drain

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discharged 3 million gallons of acid mine
drainage per day into the Arkansas River.

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Every 24 hours, this wastewater
carries 1 ton of heavy metals,

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a rate that has been
continuous for over 30 years.

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According to the Colorado division of wildlife,
aquatic life in the river has been adversely affected

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for 140 miles below Leadville,
the Arkansas flows into

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Pueblo reservoir which holds drinking water for half a
million people in the cities of Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

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The important point is
that these activities,

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this infiltration of water into
mines will occur now forever

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and there will be a continual loading
of metals from these sources

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and in the future as we get better methods maybe,
we may be able to go into some of these areas

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and better control those. But it\'s been
occurring now continuously in many minds

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for over 100 years and for the most part,
for most mine situations is going to occur

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for many thousands more years before
man can do anything about it.

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New Jersey Zinc shut down its lead,
silver and zinc mining operation

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in 1983 and abandoned 7 million tons
of sand like mill wastes called

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tailings on the banks of the Eagle River. The
site is one of the biggest abandoned mines

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in the Colorado Rockies and was recently
listed on the Environmental Protection Agency

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Superfund priority list. Behind
a serious tailings pond,

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number one and there are several
springs other sources of water

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upstream and as tailings pond. Water
comes into this pond and it soaks down

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through these tailings, they\'re kind of sandy
in texture and it enters the Eagle River.

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Right in front of us here and behind us
and this seepage is high in heavy metals,

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it\'s also very acidic; pH has
been tested along the river here

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and the pH is tested three in some of these
five pools but some of the metals that we find

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in the seepage coming into the tailings
pond here are iron, manganese, Zinc.

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There is traces of lead and cadmium.
To measure the acidity of water,

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scientists used the pH scale.
Each single digit drop in pH

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represents a tenfold increase in acidity.
As water becomes more acidic,

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it\'s ability to mobilize
heavy metals increases.

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Metals such as zinc and copper are
essential to life but in small quantities.

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Beyond the fixed limit they are toxic.

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Fish are, the environments miner\'s canary they
are one of the most sensitive of organisms

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to the effects of metal mining pollution.
Were things like lead

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you get the severe physical abnormalities.
Lordoscoliosis,

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spinal deformities, erosion or the caudal fin and
things like that but with an element like silver;

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you can get severe reductions
in growth of the fish.

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Selenium causes severe lesions to develop.
Initially around the gills

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but it ultimately will spread over the
whole body. Something like mercury

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and selenium will concentrate

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in the tissues and then you end up with

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a particularly concern relative to human consumption.
Mine tailings have been here since the early 1900s

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and some of the pollution problems
have occurred gradually in people

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grown accustomed to seeing the changes in the
river and they\'ve gotten used to it but now with

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the ski-recreation industry getting started.
People downstream are having to use water

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as a source of their public water supply and
they\'re very concerned about the heavy metals

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and the potential health impacts of drinking
this water over long period of time.

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Telluride, a former mining town
now famous for its ski resort

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and its music and film festivals bares
a giant scar from its mining past.

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The old Elderado mines produced
over $1 billion worth of ore;

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while the mill piled 11 million tons of toxic
tailings on the banks of the San Miguel River

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just above town. A sprinkler system was recently
installed and an attempt to stop the tailings

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from blowing across the town a study by
the Colorado Attorney General\'s office

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in 1986 documented major contamination
of the San Miguel River

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and of telluride soil and groundwater.
When the report came out

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I think that a lot of people were shocked and I think
they were shocked at the very personal level of;

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here we\'ve been growing vegetables in our vegetable
gardens and strawberries and some of the things

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that will grow even up here so why would
we have such a short growing season

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and suddenly you don\'t feel so good about
that anymore, you don\'t feel so good about

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offering your little child a bowl of strawberries
grown in your backyard because you don\'t know

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how much heavy metal will be coming along with
the strawberries and green. The tailings pond is

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right up here at the east end of town

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which is basically the top of the
watershed. There\'s now some real evidence

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that there has been leaching of
very substantial contaminants

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into the groundwater, into the streams

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that come down here that formed
the rivers that flow on and on.

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The fish are found to be
either dying or unhealthy.

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It\'s basically not a wholesome situation.
A 1978 study

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by the Centers for Disease Control found four
telluride children with abnormally high lead content

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
in their blood; in that same year
two of the town\'s water wells

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
were closed after they were found to be
contaminated with hexavalent chromium.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
At levels ten times higher
than drinking water standards.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
Veins of radioactive uranium

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
the fuel for nuclear power plants and
weapons also lie buried in these mountains.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
At the Homestake corporations pitch
mine high on the Continental Divide.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
A Mountains face was torn apart in
the late 1970s to extract uranium.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
The beaver down below the mine whose
ancestors had survived even the mountain men

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
were chased out of the valley
by tons of radioactive silt.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
After the uranium market plunged in 1999,
the operation was shut down indefinitely

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
but water still flows
through the open pit mine

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
causing concern for residents downstream.
Uranium is messy stuff.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
Uranium tailings bleaching out from the
mine, probably are getting into the soil

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
as well as the groundwater could
thereby be brought into the grass

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
which cattle are grazing. Might also
be getting into the creeks and rivers

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
which sportsman like to go and
catch fish in and that way,

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
the radioactive materials could easily be getting
into the human food chain. Now, it\'s unlikely that

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
anyone is going to die immediately of radioactive poisoning
this way but there is an increased risk of cancers

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
and birth defects which
can be carried on through

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
many generations to come.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:48.000
[music]

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
Modern day minor dwarfs the old mountain pot lines that
put towns like Leadville and Telluride on the map.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
Multinational corporations today
move whole mountains extracting

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
relatively small quantities of valuable metals and
dumping millions of tons of waste into nearby valleys.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
I\'m proud of the climax mine.
We found the body,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
developed it, found the uses for molybdenum
and through research and development

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
have actually created the market
and the history behind this is

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
like northern mine in the world.
Climax mine is located

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
right on top of the Continental Divide. Where the
headwaters of three rivers, the Arkansas River,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
the Ten-mile River and the Eagle and
we don\'t pollute any of those rivers.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
The EMACS corporations
molybdenum mine at Climax

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
is by far the largest mine
in the Colorado Rockies.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
In 70 years of operation, EMACS has
extracted 460 million tons of ore

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
to produce molybdenum, a
metal used to harden steel.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
At full production climax employs over 3 thousand
people and processes 50 thousand tons of

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
ore per day. By 1987 a slump
in the molybdenum market

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
had shut down the mine and mill and
reduced employment to 50 workers.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
Tailings from the climax molybdenum mill
today cover nearly two thousand acres.

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
EMACS is dumped more than 300
million tons of tailings into

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
two classic glacial valleys. Another 200
million tons of tailings could be produced

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
in the 50 years that remain before
the oil reserve is depleted.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
The major problem at climax is the 25 foot
snowpack that accumulates each winter

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
and melt swiftly in the spring. The
climax tailings are covered with snow

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
for eight months out of the year when EMACS
designed its water treatment plant the company

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
severely underestimated the amount of water
that flows through the tailings in the spring.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
The company\'s $8 million treatment plant
is too small to handle the wastewater.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
As a result the Colorado Health
Department in 1980 granted EMACS

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
a permit that allows spring runoff from the
tailings to bypass the water treatment plant

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
and flow directly into ten-mile Creek.
This means that water containing zinc,

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
cadmium and other toxic heavy
metals flows off the tailings

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
and into Dylan reservoir which holds
part of Denver\'s drinking water supply.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
Here is the outflow of the water
treatment plant in the fall.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Here is the spring snowmelt
from the waste dumps

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
bypassing the water treatment plant.
If we don\'t have a snowmelt bypass

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
because of the amount of snowfall; one
of these dams could get too much water

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
and if that happen it could break.
So, what we do is

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
we have a snowman bypass where
we take a mix, the runoff water

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
with some of our industrial water. And
there\'s no pollution problem with that?

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
No pollution because it\'s diluted so much.
If you can imagine

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
300 inches of snow fall right where
I\'m standing. All of a sudden going

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
all at once there\'s not a
problem with pollution.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
EMACS is permit to legally release untreated
wastewater directly into ten-Mile Creek

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
extends for a period of 60 days each
spring. Every year for the last five years

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
EMACS has conducted with the company
calls an emergency snowmelt bypass

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
releasing polluted water for a
period longer than 60 days in 1983

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
for example; the emergency bypass
lasted for 7 and a half months

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
and dilution is not a viable
long-term solution to the problem.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
All toxic elements go somewhere.
In the case of the EMACS bypass

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
the metals flow downstream and accumulate
in ten-Mile Creek and Dylan reservoir.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
EPA records also show that EMACS committed

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
32 major permit violations
between 1978 and 1986

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
releasing high levels of zinc, copper,
cyanide, cadmium and manganese

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
in violation of their permit. Neither
the state. Nor EPA has taken

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
any significant action to penalize EMACS. EMACS
is one of the most frightening metal minds

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
I\'ve ever seen. That one mine is contaminating
both sides of the Continental Divide

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
and three separate rivers at least.
It is an awesome trashing of

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
some of the most beautiful country we
know, let alone our water resources.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
There are numerous slime pits
and settling ponds at climax.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
Under which there are no protective liners to
prevent seepage, toxic metals percolate through

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
the massive tailings piles and online
settling ponds and move into aquifers

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
beneath the now buried valley floor. No one
knows where the heavy metals go from there

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
because for 70 years no
one has monitored them.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
And in many instances as you look at mining ways,
there is not a discrete discharge of waste

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
and in many instances they are
discharged into the groundwater.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
When you look at the history of
pollution control one of the things

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
that becomes very obvious is that
pollutants have follow the line of

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
least regulation and the line of
least regulation in many instances

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
has been discharges to groundwater.
The kinds of problems we see it with

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
the metal lines at the head of our watersheds
where what should be the springs of

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
renewal are becoming the sources
of poison in our lives suggests

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
a breakdown of regulation which we thought
was protecting us and it obviously isn\'t.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
What about the future of large
high-altitude minds like climax.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
At the end of the life of mine about 30 years
from now the tailings will actually go

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
from this tree level down where the water
is up to approximately this tree level

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
then go all the way down the valley and
we will start our reclamation plant.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
Purely covering attaining pile with Earth

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
is not going to stop the flow
of metals through groundwater

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
or from precipitation coming on top of
the tiling pond. These release through

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
pickup tremendous loads of metals and eventually
going down into a stream. So, even though

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
things visually, may look much
improved in terms of not being a sore,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
eyesore in terms of raw railing sitting
there on top of the ground leaching metals,

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
covering it up does not stop the problem.
The molybdenum mine generates

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
what\'s basically heavy metal soup there\'s just about every
kind of heavy metal in there you can think of; it is going

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
irreversibly into our aquifers. We
are poisoning our water supplies

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
at the source; the first civilization
probably ever to have done that.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:48.000
[music]

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
All high country water comes to the
mountains through the air as rain or snow.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
Continuing the cycle of water
from ocean to air to land

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
and back again to the sea. For millions of
years the air was pure and the water was pure.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
But year after year as southwestern
states grow in population

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
as cities and industries expand, the rain and snow
that fall in the mountains is becoming more acidic.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
The pollution we are putting into the air
is coming back to Earth in the water

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
in a form popularly known as acid rain.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
There are three main sources of acid rain
in the West; coal-fired power plants

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
copper smelter and cars and trucks
in urban areas such as Los Angeles

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
pollutants reacts with water in the air,
sulphur dioxide is converted to sulfuric acid,

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
oxides of nitrogen become nitric acid.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
These pollutants float
downwind to the high country.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
Acidity in and of itself can harm or kill sensitive
organisms and upset the delicate chemical balance of

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
lakes and streams but acid rain is
doubly threatening in the mountains

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
because it leeches toxic metals from
granted peaks in mountain soils

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
and also from mining wastes. In my
view, the more serious threat to

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
water quality here and to ecosystems here as
well as over much of the northern hemisphere

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
is acid rain and as I suspect many of your viewers know in recent
years we\'ve seen that there\'s a gathering threat of acid rain

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
not just in the Eastern United States but also in the western
United States and we now know through the work of John Hart

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
there\'s a very potentially serious problem here in
the high country. There\'s no doubt that acid rain

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
and snow are falling and this
ecosystem and ecosystem as at risk

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
to acid deposition when three things are true
when acid rain or snow or falling at the site;

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
when the soils and the waters and the
site have very little buffering capacity

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
to protect themselves against the acid
deposition and when sensitive organisms

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
inhabit the site at all three
things are true in this watershed.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
The rain and snow that fall here are
acidic. The average pH of summer rain

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
is about 4.6 and the annual average
pH of rain and snow together is

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
about 4.9 and those levels are
acidic enough to cause us concern.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
At a high altitude research site in the
Elk mountains; Harte has documented

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
and acid pulse that occurs in the
spring when melting snow containing

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
a six month accumulation at the acidic pollutants
floods into high country lakes and streams.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
Scientists studying snow chemistry have
discovered that contaminants move quickly

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
to the bottom of the snowpack when the
first stall occurs in the spring;

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
up to 70% of the pollutants are then
released in a single pulse of acidic water

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
that can jolt entire ecosystems.
During the spring snowmelt

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
when all of the pollutants that are trapped in the snow
over the winter are suddenly released into the lake.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
We\'re seeing the temporary
acidification in those lakes

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
and what I mean by that is that
the pH is dropping down to below

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
5 to 4.9 which is 70 times more acidic

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
than it normally is at other times of
the year and when you get pHs that low,

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
those are the levels that we know
will kill aquatic organisms.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
One of the types of organisms is known
to be very sensitive to acidity,

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
are salamanders and frogs
and we happen to have

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
a number of the ponds at this
watershed population of salamanders

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
which is in the same genus of salamander as

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
the salamander which was practically eradicated from
the lakes of the Adirondacks because of acid rain.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
And so we\'re keeping close tabs and
that species as an indicator of

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
acid rain damage here. Harte\'s data
reveals that after a steady decline

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
for five straight years salamander
population in these ponds dropped by

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
50% in just one year between 1985 and 86.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
Acid snowmelt represents a
new and sobering phenomenon

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
in the valleys that drain the great divide.
Each spring acids

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
snowmelt floods down from the top of the Western
watershed and wherever there are mines,

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
the problem is intensified. Every
major river basin in the state

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
has mine activities at it\'s headwaters.
If you have a mineralized area

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
that is full of all these exposed minerals

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
and you get acid deposition on it, particularly
during the wintertime in terms of acid snows

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
and this comes off in the spring. It is potentially
devastating to the environments in Colorado;

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
aquatic resources at Colorado. You
could end up having millions parts per

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
billion of metals going into
a stream and the streams

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
do not have the buffering capacity
to be able to tie these nettles

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
and there\'s going to be some very
serious toxic effects downstream.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Cutthroat trout is another species that is extremely
sensitive to changes in acidity and chemical balance.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
Many species of trout, spawning the spring
at the same time that acid snowmelt

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
floods downstream. Acidic water interferes
with a delicate process of reproduction.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
At pH 4.5

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
fish eggs do not develop normally and
those newly hatched and full-grown trout

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
begin to die off.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
With fishermen contributing $600 million
per year to the Colorado economy

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
in licensing fees alone, acid
rain is now a direct threat to

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
one of the region\'s major sources
of income. This map shows

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
the regions in the West where lakes and
streams are extremely sensitive to acidity.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
They are in the high country of the Rockies
cascades in Sierra, Nevada. These are the areas

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
we\'re acidic precipitation has been
measured. In 1986 EPA study of

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
mountain lakes in the West found that
two-thirds of the lakes lack the ability

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
to neutralize acid rain and could
quickly turn acidic if subjected to

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
increased pollution damage could be rapid
and irreversible. But EPA disputes

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
the claim that there is an immediate
threat and the agency continues to

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
take a wait-and-see attitude on acid rain.
We have seen little direct evidence to date

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
to support the hypothesis that
we already have damaged systems

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
but that doesn\'t mean there isn\'t a problem we know
that we have sensitive ecosystems and we know that

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
we are receiving acidic inputs now.
So it\'s critical that we develop

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
a comprehensive monitoring and research program
to reduce much of the scientific uncertainties

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
that we\'re dealing with now.
So that we can make

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
reasoned decisions to protect these areas in the
western United States from any acid rain damage.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
Because the southwest is the fastest
growing region in the United States,

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
the EPA projects that the emissions that cause
acid rain are going to increase rapidly

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
in the years ahead. EPA is
saying that in ten years

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
and 85 to 95, there will be approximately

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
a 100% increase in nitrogen oxide
pollution in the Rocky Mountain region.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
If we add that much nitrogen
oxide pollution on top of

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
current levels sulfur dioxide
given the fact that we are

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
already observing damage,
the initial stages of

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
acidification in our country lakes if
we put that much more new pollution in,

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
we\'re going to see significantly greater
effects. Air pollution and acid rain

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
also threaten western forests and
may already be taking a toll.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
We\'re seeing unbelievable damage
on every one of our trees

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
and this is not drought damage; we had
really good winter moister this last year.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
You know that we\'re getting pollutants from Southern
California for getting her forest fires and smoke

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
and we know that we\'ve got
heavy pollutants in Denver

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
and Grand Junction is getting
pretty bad about the air pollution

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
and it\'s hard to say with this damages
but when you have a plant species

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
like a Juniper that lives for hundreds
of years and you have a whole forest of

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
these is beginning to die off
you have to start to wonder.

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
And I\'m really very concerned we lose our
Jennifer\'s and we\'re losing an opinion.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
You\'re losing much of your major wildlife
habitat and much of your major ground cover

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
for semi-arid area like this. Certainly
a possibility of acid deposition,

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
acid rain. We don\'t know.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
Nobody has ever researched in this area

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
to the degree to be able to tell what kind of
acidity that we\'re getting at this altitude

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
in this part of Colorado. Well, there are various ways
that systems get that that ecosystems get damaged

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
by pollutants like acid rain and acid mine drainage
and so on of course elements of ecosystems

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
like ourselves can get poisoned just very
directly by drinking the wrong kind of water

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
but much more serious in the long-term and for the system
as a whole other kind of effects that you have on plants

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
when you change the acidity of the soil when
you change the metal content of the soil

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
you very often could either very badly damaged
or outright kill plants from grasses the trees

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
simply because plants are the product of many many
millions of years of evolution and they have evolved.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
So that they can live in certain kinds of conditions
and if you suddenly come and change the rules on them

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
then they don\'t do too well and what we\'re seeing now in
central Germany, in parts of the eastern United States

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
and I\'m afraid all too soon out here
that the trees and other plants are

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
simply beginning to go it is not impossible that will kill
off much of the forests over the Eastern United States

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
and parts of Europe and possibly even of the western
United States if we don\'t abate acid rain pretty soon.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
With ecosystems showing signs of
stress from water and air pollution,

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
there is one obvious and troubling question.
\"What are the possible human health effects of

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
the increased levels of heavy metals that are
being released into the high country environment

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
as a result of acid rain
and mining operations.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
Scientists have shown that lead damages
the brain kidneys and nervous system

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
and causes learning disabilities in children.
Cadmium has been linked to high blood pressure

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
heart and kidney disease and cancer. Mercury
causes deterioration of the nervous system.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
In Colorado between 1978 and 1985,

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
the Centers for Disease Control
documented 552 cases of the birth defect

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
craniocynostosis, the premature
fusing of a baby\'s skull

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
which causes bulging of the head and possible
brain damage. This rare birth defect

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
which can be corrected through surgery occurs
five times more frequently in Colorado

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
and in the rest of the country and has
appeared in mysterious clusters in

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
three Colorado mountain communities;
Steamboat springs, Idaho springs and Craig.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
And if you notice the
whole faces is crooked.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
When you draw a line down the middle
of the face it tilts and this is

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
a four week old child; you see
this to use a technical term

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
(inaudible) scrunched up in here;
it\'s as if somebody put a rope

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
around the eye sockets and pull them
back, there\'s no growth occurring there

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
obviously one of the theories is that it\'s
possibly caused by the drinking water,

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
the drinking water in parts of
Colorado is contaminated by

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
trace metals from the mines, the old mines
and the current mind and this is a problem

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
that is totally unsolved. And anything that

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
I or anybody else says about right now is just pure
speculation. Though scientists do not yet know

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
what\'s causing craniocynostosis. This
map suggests a possible correlation

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
between counties with a high incidence
of the birth defect prior to 1986

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
and contaminated water from abandoned
metal, coal and uranium mines.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
I think the strange thing is these
clusters, the way it seems to occur

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
in a certain geographic area and then
move or disappear then reoccurring

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
and I think it\'s very very strange. I do
think it\'s environmental. Maybe the water,

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
maybe acid rain, maybe cloud seeding or
a combination of things most likely;

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
it\'s probably a combination of things.
Today\'s tailings piles

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
orange water and environmental health problems
can perhaps be seen as the legacy of the past.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
Throughout America we are fast
learning that quality of life depends

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
on quality of the environment that
long-term economic health is inseparable

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
from clean water and clean air.
This truth is

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
reflected in the economic transition
now underway in the Rocky Mountains.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
The old extractive industries and the economy
based on mining is slowly giving way

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
to an economy based on recreation and
tourism. The tourism industry is

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
now worth over $50 billion a year to
Western states. The state of Colorado

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
alone estimates the tourism now generates $5
billion annually for the state\'s economy.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
Compared to just $750 million
per year from mining

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
but this new economy based on the
magnificence of the mountains

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
is seriously threatened by the environmental
problems created by acid rain

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
and large-scale mining. In
Colorado Rockies indeed in much of

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
the Inner Mountain West we\'ve traditionally believed that we have
to have these mines because they are the basis of our economy

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
what they have given us is an
economy of boom and bust of

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
towns that flare-up destroy their little
part of the land and then disappear

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
and we have ghost towns all across the
west from the old silver and gold days

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
Leadville down below the molybdenum mine is
looking to a new kind of economic development,

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
realizing that mine is not a sustainable
basis for the people who live there,

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
they\'re turning to tourism. Now to some extent
tourists like quaint little mining buildings,

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
tourists do not like major scars
on the land, poisoned water,

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
crowding the air blowing around. Tourists
are coming to the Colorado Rockies

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
because of its beauty, because of its unspoiled
nature because it\'s a place where they can retreat

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
from the over industrialized
cities places where

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
they live and work that I think is
a much firmer basis for an economy

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
for the Inner Mountain West than the boom
bust of the mining. Wilderness is not just

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
the pie in the sky, the environmental crazies
who just want to keep it the way it is

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
because it looks nicer. They
talk about the biological values

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
of course those things are important but this is a real
economic resource for this community. We do sell scenery,

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
we do eat scenery. So, you
can\'t but we do eat scenery

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
and you can measure it in the cash registers of the
restaurants and the grocery stores and the lodging

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
that existing Crested Butte. The town of crested
Butte is experiencing this sometimes painful,

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
sometimes divisive economic transition.
A former mining town

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
Crested Butte now has a rapidly growing ski
resort and a mountain full of molybdenum.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
In the late 19070s the community
gained national attention

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
as it battled against EMACS and tried
to stop the company\'s plans to mine

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
the rich molybdenum deposit in Mount
Emmons which rises just west of town.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
We wanted to make sure that this special
place wasn\'t turned into another slime pit

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
and turned into another boom bust town.
We also fought this battle very much

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
as an economic battle and it was a positive
battle. It was something that we were for,

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
we were for the economy of this town. There are too
many towns in America that are unhealthy economically

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
and we had full employment, we had a good
economic base that was recreation and tourism.

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
That was the agriculture that surrounds us
and that was education and at least two of

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
those three pieces, the Recreation and Tourism
and agriculture business was threatened severely

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
by the prospect of huge
dramatic scale mining

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
that EMACS proposed. I think the
third issue really had to do with

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
our responsibility to think globally

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
and act locally. They think about the future
of this planet where it\'s going to go.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
Are we going to continue to destroy the last
special places, the last wilderness areas,

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
the last aquifers, subalpine
valleys that produce

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
not only water but biological diversity or
we\'re going to show some responsibility

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
and say to a mining company
finally, no this is not just yours;

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
this belongs to all of American. We\'re going to
find the highest and best use for this area.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
In 1901 faced with the falling price of
molybdenum and strong community opposition

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
EMACS withdrew its plan to turn Crested Butte into
another climax. However, several mining companies

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
are still developing plans to mine mount
Emmons molybdenum sometime in the future.

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
Meanwhile the ski resort continues to grow

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
and Crested Butte along with other mountain communities is
quickly learning that the development of recreational areas

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
in the high country is itself not
without cost; for it to damages

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
sub-Alpine ecosystems and
diminishes water quality.

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
[music]

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
Land is becoming a
commodity to be dealt with

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
rather than something to be treasured
and protected and cherished.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
Instead of confining our growth
and our residences to towns

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
and then allowing them countryside to be
countryside. We have sort of a mixed bag here

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
and we try to make the country the
all things and in so doing that way

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
it becomes really nothing, it becomes
a form of scattered development;

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
one that can\'t support agriculture
and one that really is not

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
a very practical place for people to live.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
We will have to be more vigilant than we have been
in the past in order to protect the environment

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
and especially the water quality from
the sheer numbers of people that are

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
living here permanently using these
areas as second homes and recreating

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
on a transient basis both summer
and winter it\'s really growth,

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
that\'s really people that our greatest
threats and whether the people are minors

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
or recreationists, spears, boaters,
fishermen. It doesn\'t make any difference,

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
they still will impact the Rockies
and a degree that I don\'t think

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
we\'ve yet to comprehend. There are now
21 major ski resorts in Colorado.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
Many with their base of
operation in subalpine valleys

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
tourism too has become an industry that will
leave a legacy of its own. We want more tourists

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
but at some point that fragile
ecosystem out here is going to

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
have to at present us with some serious
management problems we\'re going to have to

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
make sure for instance that they; whether
it\'s the pollution from the ski area

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
or whether or not it\'s just simply the roads we cut
through these mountains that they are done with

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
a maximum of environmental consciousness.
And maybe they\'re just solutions,

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
maybe there\'s not a law that we can pass;
it says that you shouldn\'t develop land

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
and that kind of a pattern that you;
that maybe what we need more is

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
a feeling of caring and pride

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
in a land ethic if you will.

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
We still have in the subalpine valleys of the Rocky
Mountains pristine natural reservoirs of water

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
for the arid West. But these are limited
resources the number of valleys is finite

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
too many have already been destroyed.
Without pure mountain water

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
western cities and the great agricultural
areas of Arizona and Southern California

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
cannot survive. Water from other
parts of the west already carries

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
a heavy load of salts and pollutants.
For the first time

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
in American history, virtually all water must now
be treated with expensive technology and chemicals

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
before it is safe to drink. Many people
now pay more for a gallon of spring water

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
than for a gallon of gasoline,
clean water and clean air

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
are no longer free. It is
critical that the degradation of

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
the Western air shed and
watershed be minimized.

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
No longer can we continue the charade of dumping waste where
we cannot see it and then pretending it does not exist.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
What\'s essentially happened
is that we\'ve sold out

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
many of our natural resources, our very
important natural resources, our water quality,

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
our air quality and we\'re selling out many
of those other natural resources now.

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
Acid deposition that we\'re
refused to deal with in a sound

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
reasonable manner and I look at what\'s
happening and I look at what has happened

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
and we should be looking at the long-term
economics not just the short-term economics;

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
it made me angry when I was in the
legislature and it makes me furious now.

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
I know what it\'s like to be an
elected official and I know that

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
we can and do have the ability to deal
with these issues but we simply refuse to

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
for short-term economic gain. Economic
gain that isn\'t going to get us anywhere.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
Where greedy Americans,
we get a deposit of gold

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
or some strategic metal
and we try to mine it out

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
as fast as we can and to pay. Get high profits
and pay the dividends to their stockholders

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
and never think of future generations.
We want to make it,

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
make it big right now you know and I think that\'s
wrong. I think we should think of future generations

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
and say let\'s instead
of trying to mind this

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
deposit right now let\'s take
it a little easy and save it

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
maybe for future generation or future war.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
You know I think we\'re greediest people
on earth. We have a new obligation.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
Here in these mountains and
more generally to act as

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
caretakers and stewards
of the land in a way

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
that maybe people rather earlier
that than ourselves understood

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
but for a few moments of history we forgot.
We cannot afford to

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
forget it anymore, it\'s become
urgent it\'s become crucial.

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
The great poetic fact of interconnection

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
in terms of water, soil, plant communities,

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
and animal communities and
so on has become established

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
as a great scientific fact and it\'s also
on the way to becoming clearly established

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
in people\'s consciousness
as a great economic fact.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
We have to over the next few decades design systems not just
in the high country but in the world over that are sustainable

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
and that operate on renewable resources.
Humanity has very nearly used up;

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
it\'s one time bonanza of non-renewable resources,
the fossil fuels, the concentrated ores and solid.

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
Some will last longer than others,
some may last for a very long time

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
but basically we are spending our capital now and we
better start thinking very hard about how we are going to

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
preserve these systems that give us income because
over the next few decades and certainly over

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
the next few centuries humanity is going to
be forced to fall back to living on income

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
as any family knows you can\'t live forever on your
capital. The income is the basic thing and it\'s the income

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
that we\'re ignoring now to our peril.
So where do we go from here?

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
As we better understand the importance of the mountains
as the source of our water, action must be taken

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
by individuals and communities,
corporations and government to preserve

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
and restore high country watersheds.
There are ways to protect the water

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
ranging from national legislation to stop
both acid rain and groundwater contamination

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
to strict enforcement of existing
regulations from the recycling of

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
scarce metals and the efficient use of energy to
research which will help us better understand

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
subalpine valleys, their aquifers
and their sensitive ecosystems.

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
The movement for change starts with the realization
that air and water quality problems know no boundaries.

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
We all live downwind and
we all live downstream.

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:50.000
[music]

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:10.000
[sil.]