mercury spill at a home near downtown Boise

[winners58]

mercury spill at a home near downtown Boise
Mercury spill clean up: 'It could take weeks' News - KBOI 2
and talking with miners;
Mercury spill raises questions over use in Idaho - www.kivitv.com

 

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[Jeff95531]

If I had a "still" it wouldn't be filled with mercury

 

[stefen]

When growing up in rural Ohio in the 40's and 50's, we often patronized a feed store in the village for planting seed.

I recall that they had an overhead door that was counterbalanced with an open-topped steel cyclinder filled with mercury.

I'd guess it was about 4 inches in diameter by about 18 inches in length...not sure of the weight.

Frequently there would be globs of mercury spilled on the floor...

No telling how much sacked grain or feed that was contaminated.

The Volunteer Fire Dept was about 100 feet away...

Didn't seem to be a big deal then...

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hummmm... Sounds like the kids found it and were playing with it. How else did it get out to the sidewalk from the house? Yet another example of the medias lack of complete reporting.

 

[Hefty1]

The Sky is Falling!!!

 

[Oakview2]

The CFR lightbulbs, curly cue have enough mercury to initiate a class one spill. These are same bulbs they have legislated hmouseholds use. They recomend disposing them a plastic bag and put in the landfill. Wonder what the half life of a plastic bag, and how quickly that Mercury wil be released into the ground...

 

[KevinInColorado]

The CFR lightbulbs, curly cue have enough mercury to initiate a class one spill. These are same bulbs they have legislated hmouseholds use. They recomend disposing them a plastic bag and put in the landfill. Wonder what the half life of a plastic bag, and how quickly that Mercury wil be released into the ground...

No. You are expected to turn them back in at the hardware store for recycling.

And anyway, there is naturally occurring mercury in coal. The coal you burn to light an incandescent light beyond what is needed for a fluorescent releases much more Merc into the air than is in the fluorescent bulb. You could purposely crush every fluorescent bulb you ever use and still be way, way better on total Merc released than with traditional bulbs.

Of course if you're really worried about mercury releases, buy LED bulbs!

 

[cazisme]

What was it they break a lightbulb ? Here is ComuneisticCalifornia we have outlawed lead but mercury for use in light bulbs that break in you home and are thrown away into landfills are just dandy!

 

[cazisme]

Can someone please list the number of people who have died from lead poisoning and mercury poisoning in the last 20 years in the United States?

 

[Hefty1]

0.00

 

[benny]

A large mercury spill? WTF?
On the other hand, it was larger than a broken thermometer might cause.

 

[Hefty1]

[h=1]Mercury spill cleanup may continue Friday[/h] Trace Christenson, Battle Creek Enquirer 4:53 p.m. EDT September 24, 2015

Battle Creek firefighter Jim Mervyn cleans the back foot of Roxy as owner Nicholas Lowe holds her.(Photo: Trace Christenson/The Enquirer)


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The cleanup may continue Friday after a mercury spill at a Battle Creek house.
Battle Creek firefighters contained the estimated 16 ounces of mercury, which had been in a glass bottle that shattered and spilled the toxic liquid metal on the back steps of a house at 73 S. Union St.
The spill was reported about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Battle Creek Fire Department Batallion Chief Mike Fleisher.
Nicholas Lowe, 33, said he had been living in the house with his son, 12, and daughter, 13, but were moving out because of foreclosure. The house was scheduled to be sold at auction on Thursday.
Lowe said he came to the house Thursday morning to retrieve some items and found that the jar of mercury had been broken on the wood steps on the back porch. He called 911.
“It was a bottle of mercury that my grandfather had,” Lowe said. “I had seen it on the porch and it was the same mercury I played with when I was 10 years old. I knew what it was.”
Other family members said the mercury had been collected at an auto plant were the grandfather worked years ago.
Fleisher said emergency personnel don’t know how the mercury was spilled. Lowe said other family members had been in the house in recent days and Battle Creek police have questioned them.
After Lowe called for help, emergency personnel from the fire department including firefighters trained to handle hazardous materials responded, Fleisher said.
Three firefighters put on protective suits and breathing tanks and went to the area of the spill.
“They went to contain the product,” Fleisher said, “and they contained it to one small area.”
He said the mercury was on the steps and appeared to be all outside the home.
The firefighters spend nearly 30 minutes scraping the mercury into containers near the back of the house.
Workers from Young’s Environmental in Grand Rapids arrived in the early afternoon. Fire officials said the company would collect the containers of mercury and remove soil around the back of the house and the wooden steps contaminated with the mercury.
They were expected to work until sunset Thursday and possibly return Friday.
The workers also tested Lowe and his dog, Roxy, for any contamination as well as Lowe’s children, who were attending classes at Pennfield Middle School.
Neither Lowe nor the children showed any signs of mercury but the dog had higher-than-normal levels on a back paw. She had her paw cleaned by a firefighter.
Mercury can pose health problems when vapors are inhaled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and high exposure can cause kidney problems, respiratory failure and death.
“It is very toxic when inhaled,” Fleisher said. “It can make you very sick.”
The fire department was assisted at the scene by Battle Creek police and Lifecare Ambulance. Union Street was closed for several hours between Capital Avenue Northeast and Cherry Street.
Contact Trace Christenson at 966-0685 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson

 

[arizau]

Some time in the future landfills may be major mining sites to recover mercury and other heavy metals (tongue in cheek) or at least environmental cleanup areas. I wonder if they will ever find the mercury I played with and spilled as a kid (acquired from breaking thermometers). Kind of neat turning a copper penny silver by rubbing it with mercury or trying to corral it so it would it would bead up. Once it was beaded up you could squash it with a finger and start over again until skin oil or dirt coated it and it wouldn't combine anymore. Never did quite get the hang of it on how to pick it up with my fingers though. Let's see now, that was over 60 years ago (still typing).

Yeah....a little sarcastic but the extremes we go to in this day and time are just that. Extreme.

 

[cazisme]

WOW (O) ZERO DEATHS BY MERCURY OR LEAD AND HOW MANY BY ALCOHOL / DRUG POISONING? I THINK THE EPA BANNED THE WRONG

 

[patiodadio]

When I was a kid, we played with mercury. A boy brought some in to school (we were in the 2nd grade) in a jar and the teacher divided it up for the boys. We each had some in the pencil holder on our desk. People would go wild if that happened today.

 

[gollum]

All of y'all seem to be missing something pretty big here:

Namely, the guy that lives in the house was moving due to foreclosure. The house was set to be auctioned off the next day.

Anybody besides me think the guy did this himself to screw up the auction value of the now "CONTAMINATED" home?

Mike

 

[boogeyman]

When growing up in rural Ohio in the 40's and 50's, we often patronized a feed store in the village for planting seed.

I recall that they had an overhead door that was counterbalanced with an open-topped steel cyclinder filled with mercury.

I'd guess it was about 4 inches in diameter by about 18 inches in length...not sure of the weight.

Frequently there would be globs of mercury spilled on the floor...

No telling how much sacked grain or feed that was contaminated.

The Volunteer Fire Dept was about 100 feet away...

Didn't seem to be a big deal then...

Boy were you lucky!!!!! I had to gnaw paint off the stairs to get my daily adult requirement!

 

[Hefty1]

All of y'all seem to be missing something pretty big here:

Namely, the guy that lives in the house was moving due to foreclosure. The house was set to be auctioned off the next day.

Anybody besides me think the guy did this himself to screw up the auction value of the now "CONTAMINATED" home?

Mike

First thing I thought about when I read it.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

0.00

Not quite right. Dr Karen Wetterhahn died of mercury poisoning in 1997. She was a chemist at Dartmouth working with dimethyl mercury (not liquid mercury). As far as dying from exposure to elemental mercury (the liquid stuff), I don't know of anyone, so you correct in that part.

But bacteria in creeks and rivers convert mercury to dimethyl mercury. That is a reason to remove it. Unfortunately, the environmental extremists in California won't let dredgers remove it anymore.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

All of y'all seem to be missing something pretty big here:

Namely, the guy that lives in the house was moving due to foreclosure. The house was set to be auctioned off the next day.

Anybody besides me think the guy did this himself to screw up the auction value of the now "CONTAMINATED" home?

Mike

Yeah, why spill the mercury? It has value and when spilled everyone goes crazy. Since the house is being foreclosed, it would be a way to get back at the agency doing the foreclosure...except it could come back to bite him. His credit is blown already, his good name could be gone also if someone (like the foreclosing agency) does some investigating and can show it was intentional. Not only his good name, but his freedom. I suspect (though I know nothing about real property laws) intentionally devaluing a property is breaking some laws.