'How do you clean up a nightmare like this?' 1000s of geese killed in toxic pit mine in Montana

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Thousands of snow geese have died after landing in a flooded mining pit in Butte, Mo.  About 10,000 geese arrived at the artificial lake, called the Berkeley Pit, on Nov. 28. Since then, thousands of birds have been found dead, including two in a nearby Walmart parking lot.

There have been discussions about, 'how do you clean up a nightmare like this?' And yet, not much has been done. It seems that, if anything, the pit just gets bigger every year.- Andrea Stierle

The lake remains after a former copper mine that had operated since 1955 closed in 1982. Since being flooded by the area's groundwater, the pit has become contaminated with sulfuric acid and toxic metals. The Berkeley Pit is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site, meaning it has been recognized by the U.S. government as a heavily polluted area, which needs long-term help to clean up.

This isn't the first case of geese being killed by this lake.  In November of 1995 342 snow geese were found poisoned and burned by lake's toxic, acidic water.

I just pray that this does not become our new normal.- Andrea Stierle

Prof. Andrea Stierle teaches chemistry at the University of Montana and has studied the Berkeley Pit. She tells As It Happens host Carol Off any birds that drink from the artificial lake will likely be dead within a day or two.

Carol Off: How did you react when you heard that so many birds had landed in that pit?

Andrea Stierle: It broke my heart. When I heard from friends that they were hearing thousands of birds in the air over Butte, I immediately thought, 'oh no, I hope they don't think the Berkeley Pit is a lake'.

The next morning we heard that thousands of birds were out in the late but there weren't any deaths. And I thought, 'that's impossible.' And sure enough news of the birds dying started coming in.

CO: Is there any possibility that the birds that landed on the lake could survive?

AS: If a bird were to land and then take off right away, but these poor birds had probably just flown 500 to 1,000 miles and they're exhausted. So they're going to drink deeply to replenish themselves, and they're going to rest.  

Montana resources who manages the mine site tried their usual hazing techniques, but the people that were desperately trying to haze them away said were using fireworks, they were using round of guns being fired off with blanks.

I can't repeat enough that when you're migrating you're exhausted, and that behaviour makes the birds less flighty.  So they were going to rest and drink and recover to do the last leg of their migratory journey, and a bunch of noise from a bunch of people trying to scare them away just evidently had no effect.

CO: Do you think that in the political environment the U.S. is now entering, in particular the EPA, do you think it's likely anything will be done with this pit?

Regulation is part of what has brought us clean air and clean water, and has mitigated the number of environmental disasters that we've had.- Andrea Stierle

AS: I think, like many Americans, I'm fearful moving forward, that we're going to see a curtailment of regulation. I just pray this does not become our new normal.

If I had a crystal ball, maybe I'd be even more frightened. But right now I am worried.

This interview was edited for length and clarity. For more, listen to our full interview with Andrea Stierle.