Montana’s Berkeley Pit, containing 40 billion gallons of poisonous copper-mine runoff including arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, and zinc, has two claims to fame. One, it once killed a flock of hundreds of geese the moment they touched down on its surface. Two, the 40-billion-gallon pit houses 142 organisms — some of which have shown success in killing breast and ovarian cancer cells. Remind us of this the next time we get all Debbie Downer on toxic waste.
