Toxic waste from U.S. pot farms alarms experts

According to unpublished data seen by Reuters, Gabriel, who has visited more than 100 sites in California and is widely considered the top expert on toxics at marijuana farms, calculated that federal land in California contains 731,000 pounds of solid fertilizer, 491,000 ounces of concentrated liquid fertilizer and 200,000 ounces of toxic pesticides.

If much of the pesticide and fertilizer were released into a single stream rather than scattered around the state in leaky containers, the volume would exceed the amount of chemicals spilled in 2014 into the Elk River in West Virginia, which left 300,000 residents without access to potable water.

"We're getting contamination over and over again at those locations," said Gabriel, as toxins move from unsafe containers into the soil and water.

At sites that state officials said they had cleaned up completely, his team found 30-50 percent of the chemicals were still there.

"They are like superfund sites," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar, whose Fresno office has filed numerous marijuana-related environmental damage cases. Superfund sites are those targeted by the U.S. government for hazardous waste cleanup because of the risk to human health or the environment.

Federal prosecutors have also charged pot growers with environmental crimes in Alaska, Oregon and Washington.

The most toxic sites cost as much as $100,000 to clean up, leaving taxpayers with a bill that could reach $100 million or more in California alone.

"These places aren't safe to go into," said state Assemblyman Jim Wood, who has pushed for cleanup funding.

Use of toxics has grown over the past three to four years, and chemicals have been found at sites in Oregon and Washington as well, said Chris Boehm, the Forest Service's assistant director for enforcement and investigation. "In the last couple years we've lost a lot of the ground we had picked up in eradicating and cleaning up the new sites we find."

The expense and danger of cleanup has created a backlog of 639 illegal marijuana farms awaiting restoration in California, according to U.S. Forest Service data compiled for Reuters. Each farm covers up to 50 acres.

Gabriel said that figure understated the problem, and pointed out that toxics are used at thousands of illegal farms on private and tribal land. After a year or two, growers often abandon sites, leaving containers of chemicals so toxic a quarter-teaspoon could kill a bear.

As California moves to license growers, officials plan to regulate the use of chemicals. But rules can only be enforced against those who cultivate pot legally.

"There are a lot of incentives for continuing to grow illegally," said Washington Fish and Wildlife Deputy Chief Mike Cenci, citing growers' distaste for taxes and red tape.

"We've got 4,000 illegal grows in our county," said Keith Groves, a supervisor of Trinity County in Northern California. "I'll be happy if we can get 500 of them to become licensed."

Yes hispanic gangs be growing weed in national forests. Really harshes your buzz huh?

Build the wall.

>>165384
Reduce the red tape and taxation of legal growers and allow them to use credit without restriction like other businesses.

Put hunting cameras facing known sites and likely sites and arrest people while they do this stuff. This is federally protected land that they are violating.

>>165394
HAHAHA sorry to tell ya bud it's white people doing this shit

What about the toxic waste from pig farms? They literally put it all in a massive lake that's easily made to overflow when there's a torrential rain but nobody ever seems to care.

>>165626
Pig farms aren't located in national forests. Still a problem, but nice try at a deflection

>>165394

Why not just legalize pot? That's the less expensive answer than building a wall that's not going to stop anyone.

>>165633
Oh but it will

>>165627
I bet you have no idea what runoff and infiltration mean you dumb nigger. This shit gets into our water supply and nobody ever cares because muh war on drugs is so much more important than having clean water to drink.

>>165648
So this pollution in our national parks is not a problem to you?

>>165619
Considering it's in the forest and wide scale most likely.

>>165619
When they catch and dismantle operations on trespass grows, it's overwhelmingly Mexican nationals working for the employ of the cartel. White people do their own share of stupid shit like grading the land so bad that the resulting runoff into the ocean can be seen from space, but if you're desperate or stupid enough to be growing on federal land, you're not usually there by choice.