This is a particularly egregious example (and unusual because it involves DOE) but if you browse the US “Brownfields” Superfund sites[1] you’ll find all kinds o

This is a particularly egregious example (and unusual because it involves DOE) but if you browse the US “Brownfields” Superfund sites[1] you’ll find all kinds of crazy and reckless behavior relating to land contamination. Most of the people carrying out the orders in the 50s, 60s, and 70s just didn’t know any better. But some of the people from the 80s and 90s who did know (or should have known) better just didn’t care. There’s one site in Montana called Yankee Doodle Tailings pond from an old (I think) copper mine and the “pond” is highly contaminated with heavy metals. Every once in a while the Montana Fish & Wildlife will frantically try to alert residents who hunt not to eat any $bird they might have killed recently because a mass die-off means the flock stopped at the “pond” and was poisoned. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites