Mapping Inactive Metal Mines Across the US

On August 5, the Animas River in southwestern Colorado was subjected to at least a 3,000,000 gallon discharge of acidic, metal-laden mine waste from the Gold King Mine when contractors for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accidentally breached a mine pool while investigating a leak from the inactive mine. 

Tens of thousands of these toxic sites lie scattered across the nation.

With all the attention on the problem of abandoned and inactive mines SkyTruth thought they would try to map some of these other mines that haven't made headlines (yet).

LINK

Fishing The Line: Nighttime Satellite Imagery Illuminates Global Fishing Activity

Black Marble nighttime satellite imagery showing fishing vessel activity in the East China Sea.

So what can you see with nighttime imagery from space?  Well, the lights of cities and towns, of course.  And some other interesting things:  the flaring of natural gas in North Dakota, being treated as a waste product in the Bakken Shale oil-drilling and fracking boom there; flaring offshore too, in the Gulf of Mexico and other locations; fires burning vast areas in Siberia.

And the bright lights of fishing fleets operating around the world.

LINK (via: SkyTruth)