Old coal mines can be underground food farms

Re:Old coal mines can be underground food farms by chokma on Monday December 03, 2018 @04:44AM (#18587519)

In addition to the dangerous environment, it's also likely to be contaminated with a lot of toxic stuff. In the closed German coal mines the pumps have to run 24/7 to prevent both the rising water from flooding the region* and the flame retardants and other poisons from reaching the surface waters.

* some areas like the city of Essen have dropped by 16m, others up to 40m due to mining. Running the pumps to prevent flooding is considered part of the Ewigkeitskosten (eternal costs, see: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewigkeitskosten ).

edit: fixed numbers, added link

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Re:Old coal mines can be underground food farms by porker on Monday December 03, 2018 @07:38AM (#18588253)

> and the flame retardants and other poisons

What did they do with the flame retardants? Spray parts of the mine with them?

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Re:Old coal mines can be underground food farms by nine_k on Monday December 03, 2018 @09:24AM (#18588931)

A lot of things in a mine is made of wood.

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Re:Old coal mines can be underground food farms by fencepost on Monday December 03, 2018 @10:17AM (#18589365)

Even worse, a lot of things in a coal mine are made of coal or are covered in coal dust. Flammable powders can be ugly, particularly if they're floating.

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Re:Old coal mines can be underground food farms by Rodneyj on Monday December 03, 2018 @10:10AM (#18589318)

I don't think they are worried about wood. Coal dust

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