An Independence Day fireworks display at Mount Rushmore National Memorial could expose spectators to Covid-19 as well as toxic fumes from the explosions/Kurt Repanshek file
While Big Bend National Park closed Thursday due to a confirmed case of Covid-19 within the park, other parks are moving carefully in granting visitors access, and at least one concessionaire is requiring customers to wear facemasks, an Independence Day celebration at Mount Rushmore National Memorial will not require face masks or social distancing.
The event prompted by the Trump administration and which will feature President Trump in attendance also comes two days after a study stated that spectators could be exposed to toxic emissions from the metals used to give fireworks their brilliant colors.
Upwards of 7,500 spectators are expected for the spectacle, which will be held Friday night, July 3. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has said face masks will be available for those who want them, but social distancing won't be enforced.
On Wednesday, Xanterra Travel Collection, which operates lodges and other concessions in and around Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Rocky Mountain, and Zion national parks, as well as at Mount Rushmore, announced that it would require "all visitors to wear face coverings while in the indoor public areas of our facilities and in outdoor areas where proper distancing is not possible. These areas include, but are not limited to lobbies, hallways, gift shops, restaurants, offices, indoor/outdoor queueing lines, and sightseeing vehicles and boats."
The National Park Service has not taken a hard stance on the wearing of face masks, though many parks have encouraged visitors to wear them if they can't practice social distancing. At Golden Gate National Recreation Area, officials said "federal, state and local health authorities are were discourging any activities that would draw large crowds" beause of the coronavirus pandemic.
The fireworks display over the carved faces of Presidents George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson comes 11 years after they were halted because of concerns they might spark wildfires in the surrounding Black Hills National Forest and the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve.
Fire danger in those areas surrounding Mount Rushmore currently is judged to be "moderate."
The environmental assessment prepared on the question of whether the fireworks display could safely return to the memorial noted a number of adverse effects it would create, but dismissed them as short-term.
Air Quality IssuesAir quality may be affected by emissions from the vehicles of visitors, fireworks contractors, and NPS and event partners before, during, and after the event. These impacts would be no greater than, and possibly less than, normal memorial operations because of the limited number of visitors on that day compared to other summer days. There may be air quality impacts from the potential use of helicopters for event staging and teardown, and by military aircraft from a potential flyover. These impacts would be a negligible addition to regular aircraft traffic in the region. Air quality could also be affected by smoke from the fireworks display; however, these effects are expected to be short-term and negligible and smoke would be expected to dissipate soon after the event.
Impacts to threatened or endangered species
The northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) is listed as threatened under the ESA and is present at the memorial. The bat could be subject to fireworks and aircraft noise, and could occur in areas subject to fire risk. ...However, wildfire effects are temporary, of low probability, and do not constitute incidental or purposeful take, as defined in the 2016 USFWS Programmatic Biological Opinion for the northern long-eared bat (USFWS 2016). The bats are sensitive to acoustics, but are likely to be in roosts and remain sheltered during the event.
Impacts to wilderness quality
There is no designated Wilderness within the boundaries of the memorial, but the designated USFS Black Elk Wilderness lies to the west of the memorial. No planned activities would occur in designated Wilderness under the preferred alternative (see Section 2.1, Alternative 1); however, the fireworks event may affect Wilderness qualities. The five qualities of Wilderness character, as defined in the Wilderness Act of 1964, are: (1) untrammeled; (2) undeveloped; (3) natural; (4) offers outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation; and (5) other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value. Of these, the preferred alternative may result in temporary impacts on opportunities for solitude from the fireworks event. Visitors camping or recreating in the Black Elk Wilderness may experience visual and acoustic disturbances from the event; however, these disturbances would last for 15 to 30 minutes. The NPS would minimize potential adverse impacts on the Wilderness experience for visitors by posting the event in advance.
While a 2016 study by the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that surface and groundwater at Mount Rushmore were probably polluted with a chemical common to rocket fuels and explosives by past fireworks display, the EA prepared for this year's event played down the threat of additional perchlorate contamination by noting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been considering a move to bump up the allowable amount of the chemical in drinking water by more than three times, from 15 microgrms per liter to 56 micrograms per liter.
Perchlorate has been found to interfere with the function of the human thyroid gland.
A study released Wednesday in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology pointed out that the lead, copper, titanium, strontium, and other "toxins" that give fireworks their vibrant colors "also damage human cells and animal lungs."
"While many are careful to protect themselves from injury from explosions, our results suggest that inhaling firework smoke may cause longer-term damage, a risk that has been largely ignored," said Terry Gordon, PhD, a professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at NYU Langone Health who was the study's senior author.
"Although people are only exposed to these substances for a short time each year, they are much more toxic than the pollutants we breathe every day," added Gordon.
Comments
BrianP Who would be surprised that CNN and the NYT would criticize Trump. Speaking of divisive, they have been out to get Trump from the get go with their false attacks on the President. Rather than letting them speak for you, why don't YOU tell us what YOU think he said that was divisive.
EC -- my main job during my career was writing computer software; I left the journalism up to people I trusted to tell the truth. Then I could read what they had to say and forumulate my own opinions. My opinion is that Donald's tweeting and talking is getting more and more divisive; this speech was no different.
Sounds like everyone here (or at least most of you) see Trump for the vile racist he is. After all, what President would use Mount Rushmore, a symbol of white supremacy, for a speech celebrating our country's despicable history? It's like pouring salt in a wound.
Who's in favor of chiseling off the racist faces of Mount Rushmore and either eliminating the park altogether or maybe renaming it to something different?
Here's a thought, lets replace them with the faces of Malcom X, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton and let's see.... maybe Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (after all diversity is paramount). Or perhaps Geronimo, Tecumseh, Sitting Bull and maybe Willma Mankiller? Which would be more politically correct?
And while we are erasing our ugly horrible history, when are we going to defund, or better yet eliminate the racist law enforcement arm of the NPS? We all know the financial struggles the NPS is facing. How much money could be saved by getting rid of these racists in the NPS? After all, if we are going to get rid of law enforcement at the state and local levels shouldn't we also get rid of them at the federal level? Isn't that just simple logic?
Would the savings be enough to cover a fee structure change so that people only pay based on what they earn? For example, if you are one of those greedy wealthy individuals that goes to work every day we could charge them $1,000 / day as opposed to say someone working at Starbucks 20 hrs a week who would pay maybe a nickel.
Of course if you're one of the truly enlightened ones who recognizes the evils of capitalism and refuses to participate in the workforce you would justifiably get in free.
We should also let everyone who has suffered from all the systemic, structural, institutional racism in our country in free. You know, as a start to atone for our country's sins (sorry for the religious reference). I think we should also include non-citizens as atonement for our ugly immigration and citizenship laws. Maybe we should remove the entrance gates altogether just like we need to at our country's borders. You know, make everyone feel welcome.
Now that I think about it, why are we celebrating the 4th of July at all? Why celebrate a country that once allowed slavery and who stole the land from the natives?
Why does the NPS even exist, being it is a creation of a multitude of racist slave owners and invaders? Why stop at getting rid of the Lincoln Memorial or the renaming of schools with racist names like Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Wilson & Madison?
We should get rid of the NPS altogether!
Why ARE we polluting our water with fireworks of all things? Weren't fireworks invented by the Chinese? Isn't that the epitome of "cultural appropriation"?
Let's get rid of this dreadful oppressive holiday and perhaps rename America itself. Maybe something like West Africa? Maybe something befitting the Native Indians? Oh, wait, that is disrespectful. I forgot for a minute it is insulting to use Native American names for anything. I do apologize. Or was it the Asians that were here first? Does that mean we need to evict the American Indians but can keep our fireworks?
But wait, what if the Native Americans don't want ANY outsiders, you know like the Mexicans, Europeans, African Americans, etc? What if they don't value diversity and inclusion? Damn this gets complicated.
I know, lets pack up everything the evil invaders created or brought with them and ship both them and their evil hateful racist inventions back to Europe or wherever it is they came from.
We can return the land that was stolen, bulldoze the parks, houses, roads, airports, monuments, churches, hospitals, corporations, etc. Fill in the mines, cap the evil oil wells, dispose of the medicines created and let the real Natives start fresh.
I know it's not perfect but it's a start and we have to start somewhere.
Once this is done we can start on correcting Europe's sins and get that back to the way it was say during the Roman Empire? After all, wouldn't it be fun to watch a few Christians being fed to the lions again?
Of course none of this will happen with Trump or the GOP in the way which is why it is so important to vote.
Our fake president has escalated from demonizing immigrants and foreigners to his outrageous claim that his opponent's "goal is not a better America; their goal is the end of America.”
Sounds pretty divisive to me, but here's what former Republican speechwriter Peter Wehner had to say after the Rushmore campaign stop:
"Trump faces an obvious difficulty as he seeks to fan public fears over renewed “American carnage” given that he has been responsible for the stewardship of the country for more than three years.
“It’s an insight into him: He doesn’t view his job in terms of governing. He just views it as a platform to vent and be angry... He’s not just appealing to the base, but he’s appealing to the base of the base. The aperture of the campaign is constricting, not expanding — he’s energizing a smaller and smaller group of angrier and angrier Americans. And to try to energize that base, he has to say more and more extreme things.”
Golly, alias wild places, you went pretty far afield with that tirade. Even ecbuck, in one of his earlier comments brought us back to center by reminding us that, "We are talking about his Mt Rushmore speech. After all we do want to keep this about the Parks and the appropriateness of the event." You should try to get hold of yourself, bro. If you don't, I fear you're not going to be able to stay stable in the face of what is probably coming over the next four months. You have to get a grip or I fear you're going to need some professional intervention to get through it all ...even more than you already need I mean.
Yet you can't identify a single line. As to journalism, you certainly aren't getting that from CNN or the NYTs. You need to listen, read and think for yourself.
Whoa, Bucky! You are telling me that my opinion doesn't count because I haven't fulfilled your requirements of identifying something that Donald said in some speech to his base? You, Bucky, are now the decider on the journalistic ethics and values of the New York Times? Should I write the New York Times and tell them that ECBuck thinks they suck? My gawd, I hope their subscriptions don't go down tomorrow! You, Bucky, are telling me that I need to listen to and read Donald's rambling and devisive speeches? You're telling me to think about what Donald has to say? I have thought about what Donald has to say; I have thought about what you try to say on this website. Here's what I think: you and Donald are both morons; that's my opinion. You've crossed the line, Bucky.
BrianP ---
Am I the only one who found a confliction in the orders Buck gave you? As the only one entitled to The Right Way he first told you "As to journalism, you certainly aren't getting that from CNN or the NYTs" and then followed it up with "You need to listen, read and think for yourself." --- which you would not be doing if you avoided CNN NYT etc. I thought Buck's main comploaint with you was that YOU WERE listening reading & thinkingfor yourself, just not for Buck.
Since most around these parts tend to thinkfor themselves - why would someone self-appointed to be on permanent Hall Patrol stick around.