Mount St. Helens is WA state's No. 1 air polluter

John Patrick Luethe writes "The Seattle Times has run an article on Mount St. Helens' recent massive pollution. The article claims that since the start of the recent volcanic activity starting in early October the volcano has pumped out between 50 and 250 tons of sulfur dioxide each day and has become the states largest polluter."

Comments

Gaia Watch Out!

[Anonymous Coward]

The eco-terrorists are gonna be coming after you!

zerg

[Lord Omlette]

Obviously the solution is to cut taxes for companies that engage in volcanic activity.

And throw in some more tax cuts for plate tectonic activity too.

Re:zerg

[BLAG-blast]

Yeah, I was wondering how the lefties were going to blame this on President Bush. How about this: Halliburton drilled a well in Wyoming that fouled up the plate tectonics and caused the mountain to start spewing again.

Er, Scott, I don't think you are correct about tectonics and Halliburton. The real reason is little more straight forward than that. The Fire Mountain God is angry because Bush has been elected president.

And no air permit, too!

[mschaffer]

This is way over the 250 ton/year limit for SO2 for it to be considered a major source, and I cannot find any record of the EPA region 10 approving an air permit for the National Park Service at that site.

Shame, shame on the NPS to operate an attraction that is so polluting. It should be shut down.

Re:And no air permit, too!

[MemoryAid]

The National Park Service is now stuck with a $50,000 per day fine until they comply with the regulation.

Re:Wow, that's interesting

[jazman_777]

I've heard of web sites where they actually include links to the articles and you can go read them for yourself.

The act of looking at the link then not reading the article was left as a mental exercise this time. This is /.

Everyone always talks about volcanic CO2 pollution

[WolfWithoutAClause]

But nobody ever does anything about it.

I think the federal government should step in with a grant or something.

Kyoto Accord?

[TFGeditor]

I wonder if the Kyoto Accord takes into account things like this.

Re:Everyone always talks about volcanic CO2 pollut

[NonSequor]

I think we should follow Iceland's model. We need to find a way to control the weather with the power of the fiery magma beneath the earth's crust.

This also has a secondary effect. Our use of geothermal power will bring all of the world's greatest mad scientists to the US. Mad scientists are naturally drawn to geothermal power like moths to flame. Sure, mad scientists may be unpredictable, but at least some of them will do spectacular things to benefit humanity and I think it's worth the risk of a cataclysm or two.

The Conservatives Position

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no hard evidence that 250 tons of sulphur dioxide per day contribute to pollution. Rather than burden volcanoes with unnecessary restrictions, we should lower taxes on them to stimulate growth and create new jobs.

Who cares?

[JhAgA]

Dealing with it would surely cut out jobs, wouldn't it? Leave it be.

This is giving bush's admin fits

[WindBourne]

Thye are still trying to figure out how to give MSH a tax break.

Re:Volcanic emissions compared to human output

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it would depend on which human to whom you are referring and also depend on what the human ate that particular day.