Tianna R Drew Moscow, ID 83843 February 29, 2012 Student Grant Program Committee University of Idaho Moscow, Idaho

83843 Dear Student Grant Committee: I am an undergraduate in the chemical engineering department at the University of Idaho. I am writing to apply for the Student Grant Program, as proposed by our Technical Writing professor, Christa Teston. This grant will support a project to create statewide (and eventually nationwide) awareness of a pressing problem in the clean-up of presently operating and past abandoned Idaho mines. As a chemical engineering student I am greatly interested in mines and how they extract metals, but I am also concerned about the environments safety. Supporting this project will bring positive attention to the University and its chemical engineering department for sponsoring such an enormous kindness to the local ecosystem. The main goal of my project is to acquire government funding to research permanent solutions for the removal of waste left on our lands from abandoned Idaho mining sites. These toxins include metals that have built up in streams and reservoirs, to chemicals left to seep into the earth because there was no way to remove them in the past. To attract national attention to the accumulation of waste and how it has affected the ecosystem, I am proposing to advertise infographics containing relevant information and persuading the viewers of these ads to contact their representatives and create awareness. The reason there is no current solution to removing the toxic chemicals is that in the past there were no government laws and policies put in to place for mining safety and chemical usage. Current mines all operate under these many laws and have to abide by MSHA and OSHA regulations, and only use chemicals to extract metals that they can easily treat when they are done using them to turn them into something non-toxic. My project will eventually obtain federal attention to focus on the past problems with chemicals that are not so easy to treat. Thank you for considering my application for the Student Grant Program. You may contact me to discuss any points of interest, including my qualifications for this project. I can be reached by phone (208-XXX-XXXX) between 2:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. or by email at XXXXX@vandals.uidaho.edu at any time of the day. Sincerely,

Tianna Drew

Background
There are currently six mining corporations that are members of the Idaho Mining Association. Over three dozen federal laws and regulations have been put into place to reassure the containment of toxic chemicals and the prevention of environmental damage from mining and mineral processing. Current mines have closed systems that use and reuse their toxic chemicals (such as arsenic, used to extract gold and platinum from ores) in contained pools to refine their ore of interest. This ensures the chemicals and other toxic elements are not put to waste. Inspections and monitoring also play major roles in keeping the public and environment safe. Again, this is all in respect to current Idaho mines. The University of Idaho is also taking initiative to help out Earth. For future and present mines, The University of Idaho is studying new gold and silver leaching techniques using natural organisms to extract metals. Researchers at [the University of Idaho] are also investigating new ways to predict earthquakes and purify water from mining processes.1 These procedures are a monumental improvement to past methods of extracting metals. Since the late 1800s, there has been mining in Idaho. At first Silver and Gold were the main interests of prospective miners. Since then, resources have expanded to more diverse metals such as molybdenum, lead, zinc and copper, as well as other materials such as nitrate, MBT (2mercaptobenzolthiazole), and phosphorus.2 Since the beginning of mining in Idaho, mining sites have come and gone. According to the Idaho Mining Association (IMA), hundreds of mines were developed and operated before modern federal and state environmental regulations were enacted. Many of these historical mines pose safety hazards from mine openings, unsafe structures and dilapidated buildings. Some of these sites threaten water quality and other environmental values.1 Most of these mines have been left in the dust with no living owner or inheritor to claim the contaminated land. Mining leaves waste behind that contains copper, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, or a combination of these. These are all toxic to humans and wildlife. Many of these metals occur naturally as metal sulfides. Separating the metals can leave behind sulfur compounds, namely sulfuric acid.3 Sulfuric acid, H2SO4, is a highly corrosive substance used in car batteries, the manufacturing of fertilizer, and oil refining, among other uses. The waste from some abandoned mines has caused irreparable damage to the surrounding ecosystems, which is a possible explanation of why no one has stepped up and claimed these sites. Often mines with extremely hazardous risks are left to the government to clean up, an endeavor that costs millions, if not billions of dollars. That is, if they are brought to the governments attention. The IMA states Many abandoned mines are located in remote and rugged terrain and may pose relatively small risks to public safety and health. As Idaho gains population and tourism increases, people are more likely to come into contact with such mines.1

Overall Goal
The overall goal of this proposal is to create awareness of the current and potential risks associated with abandoned mines and smelters across Idaho. After a statewide message has been delivered, national attention, along with eventual federal aid to fund research of a permanent

solution to waste clean-up of mines, both presently operating and abandoned, is the final goal.

Specific Goals
Funds from this grant will help to financially support creating awareness of these several points: where the waste from abandoned mines is, how much waste there is, how it is affecting local ecosystems, and what the local residents can do about it. Locally televised ads, paid for by this grant, will be aired to help raise awareness. Ads will also be placed on social networking sites and in local newspapers. Another aim is to create inspiration and motivation in the viewers of these ads to spread the word to their local representatives. In order to do so, these advertisements will be formulated in both gain frames and loss frames.

Importance
Myself
As an undergraduate in chemical engineering, and a homegrown Montanan, mining has always interested me, as does the effect of chemical toxins on a human body, and on the local ecosystem. A possible future career goal of mine is to work in a mine. I would love being a part of the team doing clean-up, if there is one. If not, just being a part of the mining crew would be acceptable. Making sure the methods that miners use are not environmentally hazardous is my goal. I want to research methods to extract and eventually eliminate toxins in the future, but that requires much more money than can be provided by this grant proposal. Getting the information about mining waste could eventually lead to the national attention needed to implement research to accomplish these goals.

The University
This project will also get the word out about the University of Idahos current attempts to better the mining chemical processes by making them environmentally safe and eventually eliminating the threat of ecological disaster. The persons working on this project, and therefore the University of Idaho, will get widespread attention for doing an enormously good deed. Local and eventually national advertising of pressing problems and the hope for foolproof toxin clean-up plans will not only ideally implement research for such plans and more clean-up policies, but possibly lead to toxin-free areas where there once were large amounts of chemical/metallic waste. Ignoring pressing problems could eventually be disastrous. If such a clean-up plan exists, it would be a breakthrough in the chemistry and mining fields as well.

The community
My project will also involve bridging the gap between the science and complexities of the waste problem and the minds of the Idahoan residents that might not have a clue about it. This is extremely educational for me, not only in that I get to learn about the chemicals, how much of each is actually there and causing damage, and how to extract and treat them (eventually, with funding additional to this grant, and with a team of professionals), but also in that I get to learn about communicating complicated ideas and science to people in a way that they can understand.

Methods
In order to collect the exact information needed for the ads, a meeting with the Executive Vice President of the Idaho Mining Association, located in Boise, will be arranged. Grant money will be used to pay for gas fare for this trip. After necessary information is gathered, a team of graphic designers and/or art majors, all from the University of Idaho, will be gathered to create two to six ads about mining waste. Half of the ads will heavily emphasize past damage from abandoned mine sites, making the viewer feel upset to the point they feel obligated to contact local representatives. The other half will focus on practices already in play and how theyre helping the future of our land, air, and water to not be harmful to the local residents and wildlife. These ads will also encourage the viewers to contact their representatives, but rather than contacting them to implement ideas, it would be to maintain their stances on these productive treatment plans. Ads would be formatted for each different media source proposed, namely television, radio, newspaper, and social networking sites. Grant money would be used for art supplies. Computer software will also be necessary to create persuasive and worthwhile ads; there is a relatively cheap program available online called Ad Creator from Laughingbird Software for around 35 dollars. Permits from the IMA and local television stations, as well as the IRB still have to be obtained. Grant money would be used for the purchasing of ad space in the aforementioned media sources for the allotted amount of time. These ads would air for 12 weeks during the political campaigning season, so as to encourage the creation of bills for funding the clean-up of abandoned mines, and also to encourage the contacting of local representatives to begin with.

Timeline
Advertising will start the beginning of the political campaigning season. week 1 wk 2 wk 3 wk 4 wk 5 wk 6 - wk 17 Gathering Info Creating Ads Obtaining Permits Paying for ad space Advertising

Bibliography
1) "Idaho Mining Association Index." Idaho Mining Association. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://www.idahomining.org/ima/>. 2) Idaho Geological Survey." Idaho Geological Survey. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://www.idahogeology.org>. 3) Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005. Print. 4) "Electrochemistry Encyclopedia." Extracting Metals from Sulfide Ores. Ed. Zoltan Nagy. YCES, Apr. 2004. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://electrochem.cwru.edu/encycl/art-m02metals.htm>.