LeCain believes that the transformative techno-fix is the most reliable, safe and efficient, while the pathbreaking and delaying fixes cause more problems than they’re worth. The transformative techno-fix allowed the mine workers to continue operations, without putting the harmful chemicals into the air and soil. The pathbreaking fix was efficient and lucrative sure, but it began harming nearby farms and deeply reducing air quality. Even 30 years after the mines shut down the land remains void of plant life. The delaying fix allowed the arsenic from the logs to seep into the ground water after the mine was shut down due to the water not being pumped out from mining (149). Used correctly however, LeCain hypothesized that each fix could have provided more efficient work while also not harming the environment as much as they did.
In the technologically driven society we live in today, mines won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The precious minerals that come from mines are too valuable to give up. Which is why moving away from minerals that are more harmful to obtain should be the secondary if not primary step towards a cleaner world. The other step being to close mines all together. LeCain presents a decent argument, but technology has come so far even in the past few decades that the specific issues he talks about in the reading could most likely have been avoided.
I agree that LeCain points out a lot of flaws about the techno-fixes that we are applying to the problem of mines, however I do not think that the techno-fix is described as a cure all by him in his piece that we read. I think that he appreciates the work we have done to try to improve the quality of life for those suffering the affects of mining. However, I think that a lot of what LeCain says is that techno-fixes just push the problem off to another future generation to deal with, making the issue someone else’s problem. The people working on these techno-fixes do have good intentions but I think that they are all falling victim to group think, similar to what happened in the Bay of Pigs. Each person has their own field of expertise and they are focused on alleviating that portion of harm, instead of looking at the bigger picture. Honestly I do think that we can give up these minerals if we make a social shift in prioritization. Also, I think that your title was really good!