El medio ambiente en la minería

EL MEDIO AMBIENTE EN LA MINEAIA 74 grow, adding to the burden ofwhatever program has been established to deal with the problem of the past. VI. RISKAND THE SETrING OF STANDARDS One of the inherent issues associated with any "protective" regulatory program is that of balancing the level of protection against the impact on the regulated industry. Environmental protection measures have a particularly difficult time with this balancing of interests because of the nature of the problem. . Envrronmental impacts,including the impact on humanhealth, tend to involve a mix of a small number of immediate, obvioilSly undesirable effects that are clear targets for any goveming body with a concero for its citizens and a much larger body of effects whose impacts'arel~siclear.~Particularly in the hum'an health area, there are a numbef of problems associated with seeking the elimination of the last trace of effeét. The debate assoeiated with this. aspect of the problem has proven to be very divisive in the U. S. setting and tend to polarize the regulators charged with protection and the regulated concemed with remaining in business. In the wealthier, more industrialized countries there is a greater latitude for experimentation and a greater ability to aecom– modate the cost of a higher level of protection from activities whose dangers can only be predicted on the basis of .indirect measures of probabilistic phenomena. In countries operating with less ofa margin, the choices become more acute. The point of this is that those considering new or revised regulatory programs need to avoid trying to borrow standards without viewing and understanding the basis for those standards.The problem is made more complex when the standard in question is buílt upon other standards in an explicit or non-explicit manner. An example from the U. S.~xperience might be the leaching test used to determine whether a waste has'the characteristics of a nhazardous waste". EPA has defined a test procedure that provides a regulatory standard. It has its roots in the testing of leachates from municipallandfills. Consistent with tile nature of the original setting, the test employs a dilute organic acid, acetic acid, as the leaching agent. The issue for manyU. S. industries, including the mining industry, was whether tbis test procedure with its recognized affinity for lead compounds was a valid measure of ha~rd when applied towastes far removed from any environment in which similar leaching conditions could be expected to naturally oecur, for example, mineralized soíl on a barren hillside. A whole series of Superfund rules have been built upon this test protocol, further compounding the issue.