Working in a Gold Mine...

So, not really, but that's what a lot of the public in Oroville thinks we're doing.  Lots of people keep asking if they can pan our excavation spoils pile for gold.

It's difficult getting across to people that the whole reason we're working there is to take out dangerous levels of chemicals.  These chemicals are carcinogenic.  Others a simple elemental poisons.  And when I say elemental poisons, I mean two of the most basic: lead and arsenic.

I'll leave you with two quotes.  The first is in relation to pollution, and the second kind of sums up most of the way work has been going for the past two months.  I have actually said the second onsite multiple times.

First:

"Plutonium may give you grief for thousands of years, but arsenic is forever."

-- Pollution, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Second:

"There are four rules you need to remember: Make the plan.  Execute the plan.  Expect the plan to go off the rails.  Throw away the plan."

-- Leonard Snart/Captain Cold, The Flash, "Infantino Street"

But it's just not the same without hearing him say it: