Red Dread

[Sabby]

Red Dread: Toxic sludge spill swallows towns, kills 4 in Hungary

How the hell did an Aluminium plant have THAT much waste?
Can't help but think this may be a viral marketing campaign for a realistic reboot of The Blob...

[Lilias]

I wish it were so.

The mud, which is highly alkaline  when it is first produced, is stored in large open-air ponds: there is thought to be about 30 million tonnes of red mud stored around the Ajkai timföldgyár plant.

[Sabby]

Where's Captain Planet when we need him? :(

[Florence]

Well, since is the Politics and RELIGION board, my input to this is:

HOLY CRAP THAT TOWN WAS SWALLOWED BY BLOOD! THE END DAYS ARE UPON US! REPENT! REPENT!!!

But seriously, that's sad and... odd :<  And yes, we need Captain Planet.

[Sabby]

The owner should be charged with criminal neglect...

[Lilias]

They probably will... after the sludge is contained and we're sure that it won't reach the Danube and poison half of Europe's agricultural irrigation system >.<

And those four who died in Kolontar... drowning in toxic mud, what a way to go

[Hemingway]

Whoever decided to store it that way probably realized it'd be cheaper. And the money saved probably went into their pocket.

[Valerian]

Please don't start blaming entire countries for the actions of a few citizens.  Also, there's really no place in this thread for discussing the views of various governments on Jews.  Thanks.

[Hemingway]

I don't think I ever did that, but fair enough, I'll change it. : )

Edit: According to the newspaper I'm reading, the spill has now reached the Danube.

Well.

That could get really bad.

[Oniya]

Actually, I was just reading a news article that the alkali content of the mud is not incompatible with life.  The biggest problem for the Danube at this point is metal contamination as far as the water's safety for drinking, but fish deaths have stopped, and the most recent measurements show that the alkalinity is down to 8 (about the equivalent of baking soda), compared to the Marcal river (where everything did die), which was at between 10 and 13 pH (that's between milk of magnesia and lye).