I don't know about "years to come." It's hydrochloric acid, which is some nasty shit, but it will break down quickly once it is sufficiently diffuse, likely turning into salt (maybe table salt (NaCL), or CaCl2). I don't know that it's necessarily going to be "nasty" after it does it's initial damage. I think the short term for this stuff is far more worrying than the long term.
I'm not a prognosticator. I have no idea what the short term effects might be. It just means it's not the type of chemical that will have long term toxicity. It would have been worse if it had not burned. THAT could have had long term toxicity effects.
The combustion products should be HCl and ethanol (I think). It could be worse.
As for the short term effects, I'll say I'm glad I don't live in Ohio/Penn.
You could get some very acidic rain. This can be neutralized or buffered. Neutralizing with alkaline compounds can create undesirable salts, and buffering with weak acids could lessen the harm (like taking vinegar for heartburn) but will probably be only partially effective especially due to inaccuracies inherent in weather. Steps can be taken that aren't extremely costly but a nice deluge of fresh diluting rain would definitely help. If soil testing and fine tuning by area is needed, that would cost a lot.
What in the hell do we do about this? There ain’t no fixing this. There will be toxic repercussions for years and years to come.
I don't know about "years to come." It's hydrochloric acid, which is some nasty shit, but it will break down quickly once it is sufficiently diffuse, likely turning into salt (maybe table salt (NaCL), or CaCl2). I don't know that it's necessarily going to be "nasty" after it does it's initial damage. I think the short term for this stuff is far more worrying than the long term.
So what does that mean? Someone from the EPA needs to go on tv and tell us where this shit will end up. Is it going to follow the jet stream?
I don’t want to hear shit about my carbon footprint EVER AGAIN.
Hah!
Wait until you find out what a volcano spews into the atmosphere. How come nobody ever sells carbon credits to volcanoes?
I'm not a prognosticator. I have no idea what the short term effects might be. It just means it's not the type of chemical that will have long term toxicity. It would have been worse if it had not burned. THAT could have had long term toxicity effects.
The combustion products should be HCl and ethanol (I think). It could be worse.
As for the short term effects, I'll say I'm glad I don't live in Ohio/Penn.
Salt the earth so nothing will grow comes to mind.
Not many are going to be in a rush to provide details.
You could get some very acidic rain. This can be neutralized or buffered. Neutralizing with alkaline compounds can create undesirable salts, and buffering with weak acids could lessen the harm (like taking vinegar for heartburn) but will probably be only partially effective especially due to inaccuracies inherent in weather. Steps can be taken that aren't extremely costly but a nice deluge of fresh diluting rain would definitely help. If soil testing and fine tuning by area is needed, that would cost a lot.
No 3 letter gov agency needs to tell us anything, it would be nothing but lies.