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The Columbia River is a major route for Coho Salmon. There are highways on both sides of the river from the mouth of the Columbia to hundreds of miles inland. I
by irrational 6y ago
The Columbia River is a major route for Coho Salmon. There are highways on both sides of the river from the mouth of the Columbia to hundreds of miles inland. I-80 especially is a heavily trafficked road since it’s one of the few E-W highways through the Cascade range. And this is in a region that has rain the majority of the year. I assume tons of this chemical is being washed into the river each year. I’m not sure what can be done about it. Shut down the highways in Washington and Oregon along the river? Cut a new highway from Boise to Portland through the Cascade range somewhere south of the Columbia? Somehow restrict vehicular traffic along those highways? The cheapest and simplest solution might be to build some sort of catchment system along the roads that collect and cleans all runoff water. It would cost billions, but would be cheaper than building a new highway through the Cascades.
- Reason077 6y agoPresumably, the solution is to develop alternative tire formulations that do not include this toxic antioxidant?
- lumberingjack 6y agoI'm willing to spend $100 to $200 more per tire just to save fish I'm not even kidding tires are so cheap people just burn them off like it's no big deal
- mint2 6y agoThe only way this was found was how fast acting it was. Imagine the hundreds of thousands of chemicals and their millions of degradation products. Some of them are killing us right now.
- irrational 6y agoTrue. I wonder how long would it take to get those tires into circulation and replace the majority of tires in service? 5 years to develop new tires and start getting them into service and 5 more years for the majority of tires to have been worn out and replaced?
- ornornor 6y agoOr do what we’ve always done: watch how nothing whatsoever will be done about it for decades more.
- lumberingjack 6y agoCalifornia can't even build a new rail line and you're wanting to move major highways what new problems were these new highways create that are probably even worse than killing fish?
- irrational 6y agoWhat did I say that made you think I want to move the highway? I love driving down the Columbia Gorge and would be sad if it closed down. I’m just trying to brainstorm possible solutions. Like any brainstorming session, most ideas are unfeasible.
- dredmorbius 6y agoAmid remaining uncertainty, one immediate low-tech alternative is rain gardens built at road runoff zones. Stormwater pools there, seeping into the earth, which filters out harmful particles before they can reach natural waterbodies. The SFEI team is sampling several rain gardens around San Francisco. One early test site shows a promising 90 percent reduction in particles, including tire fragments. From "When Rubber Hits the Road, and Washes Away" ( https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/when-rubber-hits-the-road-and-washes-away/),discussed https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/when-rubber-hits-the-... 6 days ago on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25235772 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25235772