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View submission: Bald eagle spotting is
DDT saved lives from typhus and other insect transmitted diseases in Europe during WWII. Redstone Arsenal (RSA) in Huntsville, AL is on the Tennessee River and operated a WWII era DDT plant that discharged DDT into Huntsville Spring Branch (HSB) and on to the Tennessee River. The plant discharges resulted in sandbars of waste DDT and DDE solids in the HSB drainage. It was listed in the top 10 of National Priorities List (Superfund) sites in the 1970s. The Army consolidated the waste DDT into landfills along HSB and capped. The DDT plant is closed and torn down as are the RSA mustard gas, Lewisite and phosgene plants built for WWII.
When the remediation started, people stated there was not the sound of any birds singing or flying in the area of the DDT spill and around Redstone Arsenal. Superfund does work, typically slowly and with many complaints, and the work is not finished. Superfund addresses all laws (NCP, RCRA, CWA, CAA, ESA and many others) in addressing cleanup decisions. For raptors, shorebirds and songbirds it has been very successful. There are still people pushing for a return of DDT (mosquitos) for some self-centered reasons. And dismantling the ESA will re-start and accelerated the elimination of all species.
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