US Government Discovers Toxic Plume, 80 Years After Creating It
The article highlights a chromium plume from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, now allegedly threatening local water. What goes unsaid is that this isn't a sudden development. Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, has been a known polluter since its inception in 1943. Decades of radioactive and chemical waste mismanagement, often shielded by national security classifications, guaranteed
this environmental time bomb. This isn't a 'could it threaten' scenario; it's a 'when did it start threatening' residents who were, and still are, often Indigenous communities living downwind and downstream from the federal government’s scientific 'progress.' One might wonder why it takes mainstream media so long to 'discover' these slow-motion disasters, especially when they stem from the very
institutions they rarely challenge. Perhaps the ongoing cost of endless wars abroad means domestic environmental protection becomes a less pressing 'national security' concern, until the toxic waste literally reaches the taps of those not benefiting from the government’s grand scientific endeavors.