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Show CHEM LAB EXPLOSION SMELLS LIKE SATIRE ast Thursday, the Henry Eyring Building (HEB) was the site of an explosion that rocked the U to its core. At around 11 a.m., a supply cabinet exploded, shaking nearby rooms because of an unknown chemical reaction. In the wake of the explosion, the Salt Lake City Fire Department shut down the L building immediately and kept students from entering. Many students asked themselves, "So is my lab canceled?"The real question, however, is, "Who is behind this grievous attack on our freedom?" Many close to the attack were quick to label this as an accident and to deny the true cause. Linda Smith, a student who was working in a nearby room in the HEB when the explosion happened, told The Daily Utah Chronicle, "I really have no idea why it exploded, but I'm glad nobody was hurt in the blast:' When asked if she knew who would hurt the chemistry building like this, she said, "Someone probably left something open by accident or bumped the cabinet. I don't think anyone would purposely attack an empty supply room:' It seems all too convenient that someone working near the accident would write this whole explosion off, saying that it could happen by chance. Could fleets of black helicopters fly around without an organization that controls the world telling them where to go? I think not. The Chronicle also contacted conspiracy expert Alex Jones, who told us, "This was obviously perpetrated by the same Big Brother lizard aliens that funded the re-education camps and the Monsanto Corporation. They have blown up the building with their telekinetic, fluoride-infused chemtrails. Big Pharma has teamed up with the N.W.O. to incorporate Sharia Law into a United Nations plot to gather the Freemasons who control the Jewish media!" Alex then abruptly concluded the interview when he threw a few handfuls of "Fluoride Shield" — a supplement he sells on his website — at us and jumped out the window. Who would cause such an explosion? One conspiracy enthusiast, a political science student at the U, Nathan Brooks, told The Chronicle, "It could be anyone. If you were planning on causing a small explosion to cause a limited localized panic, you would probably just run away like anyone else in the building would. Though it's possible that another conspiracy created underground tunnels that go to the HEB, so we can narrow our suspects down to anyone in Salt Lake City:' While the hunt continues for the culprit, we can only hope that this fiend will be brought to justice. letters@chronicle.utah.edu Pumping uranium in Utah would hurt future generations nergy Solutions has JONATHAN proposed the disposal of 750,000 tons of depleted uranium (DU) in a Clive landfill 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. While this proposal would seem to solve the issue of storing this hazardous waste our nation has accumulated over the years, it presents significant, long-term environmental concerns. The proposal also raises some perplexing questions related to the ability of future societies to determine their own destiny. The immediate concerns surrounding the disposal of DU in our backyard are primarily associated with the threats it might pose to the ambient environment. Local environmentalists and concerned citizens have objected to the proposal on the grounds that it would position the DU dangerously close to a Tooele County aquifer. In fact, the chosen storage site sits just 20 to 25 feet above the subterranean groundwater supply, and if the DU were to leak from its enclosure, it could permanently contaminate that aquifer. Mark Walker, the vice president of marketing and media relations for Energy Solutions, has argued that the proposed storage structure would be covered with an impermeable clay liner, and then capped off with rocks, dirt and cement, ensuring that no radioactive material would escape from the confinement. However, the Department of Environmental Quality has expressed some serious doubts about the efficacy of the suggested enclosure in its recently released safety evaluation report. While Energy Solutions is currently working to address the DEQ's concerns and devise a more technically sound E PARK storage method, Walker has written off the potential water contamination issue by stating that the aquifer is already too saline to be potable, and thus further pollution would be of little consequence anyway. Energy Solutions maintains that, despite objections by environmental groups, the Clive landfill site is the safest location for DU storage in the nation. Energy Solutions' attitude towards the aquifer issue, which seems to encapsulate their general feelings regarding the environmental threats surrounding this proposal, strikes me as disconcertingly logical. An extensive, nationwide search for the ideal DU storage environment was undertaken before the Clive site was selected, and for every potential problem that environmentalists have raised, not including the technical storage challenges, Energy Solutions has been able to produce a fairly reasonable counter argument. In my mind, this situation boils down to a game of political hot potato. There are currently other temporary DU depositories in Ohio, Kentucky and South Carolina, and people in those states are eager to permanently dump the deadly uranium on someone else's doorstep. Though most of the nation's stockpiled DU is the by-product of either nuclear weapon development during World War II, or nuclear energy projects, and all of us have arguably benefited from its creation, no one wants to bear the burden of storing it in their state. The truth is that there is no reliable way to safely store this stuff anywhere, and someone, or some state, is eventually going to have to bite the bullet and inject this poisonous pile of radioactive waste into their land. Utah's current regulatory climate, as well as the relatively minimal amount of development, and productive natural resources near the Clive landfill would appear to make it as suitable a site as any. 10 { THECHRONY I NEWS I OPINION I ARTS I SPORTS I FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015 } I'm not making the argument that we should simply roll over and allow our beautiful backyard to be the nation's dumping ground, but I want to address an important point that advocates on both sides of this issue seem to gloss over. The decisions that our country has made in the past, and those that we are making today, will continue to create unavoidable consequences for future generations. As DU decays over time, it becomes exponentially more radioactive, peaking after about 2 million years. We've always known this, and we've always known that there is really no way for us to safely store this material. Yet, in the heat of the moment during World War II, and in the midst of our current energy conundrum, we chose, and continue to choose to forgo avoiding future problems for the sake of expedient solutions to our immediate ones. Our society is supposed to sustain itself long beyond the lifespan of any single person. Who knows what will become of the radioactive waste laden Clive landfill 1 million, 1,000 or even 100 years from now? It's impossible to predict what any place on Earth today will look like that far into the future. That brings up another question: who are we to decide what devastating, and potentially disastrous difficulties our posterity should be forced to endure? This question should permeate every decision that we collectively consent to. We need to vastly extend our time horizon when considering the consequences of our current actions, especially as they relate to climate change, natural resource consumption and pollution. By heaping perplexing problems on future generations, we are essentially denying them the ability to determine their own fate. letters@chronicle.utah.edu Like to draw? STUDENTS SHOULD START JOB PREP EARLY Get paid to draw editorial cartoons for The Daily Utah Chronicle. To apply, send résumé and cartoon samples to Jonathan Park: j.park@chronicle.utah.edu erhaps one of the most bittersweet moments of a graduate's life is the realization that he or she will finally be entering the "real world." The "I have finals" excuse can be a comfortable justification for avoiding other responsibilities, and for many students, college becomes a second home that is an integral part of daily life. The assumption made by many recent graduates is that if they worked hard enough, made appropriate connections and had some semblance of a goal through their university career, finding a job after graduation should come easily. However, this is sadly not the case. Many graduates struggle with employment, and some companies don't even interview fresh graduates because of their own biases. Diana Zimmerman of the marketing communications agency CMS Communications International stopped interviewing recent grads because she felt that they were unprepared and did not outline what value they could bring to the company. While I am the first to admit that our generation can be a tad selfabsorbed, this is an unfair and overgeneralized observation. People do not graduate without some level of work ethic, and recent graduates deserve just as much of a chance to find a job as older individuals who already have prior job experience. The Economic Policy Institute recently reported that 8.5 percent of college grads are currently unemployed, and 16.8 percent are "underemployed," which essentially means they are working part-time, or were looking for a job but have given up on the search. These are frightening statistics for many of us working hard in school to eventually enter the workforce, but there are ways to better our chances of finding a job in this cutthroat market. Although the U no longer guarantees employment, it can and should enable us with the tools needed to find a job post-graduation. The U should make an employment seminar mandatory for every student in their senior year that outlines the best way to seek and find employment. Experts suggest making internships and job experience (yes, even unpaid) a part of university curriculum. Employers like to see young adults who can successfully take on responsibility while maintaining their grades. Additionally, students should create a space for themselves on social media that can quickly and efficiently outline their passions, talents and ambition to an employer, such as a blog. Most importantly, students should know how to network and meet people. This is one skill that has to be mastered with practice, and every young adult should know how to present their skill set in a friendly and memorable manner to just about anyone. These are pieces of advice that many students unfortunately don't research until it's too late (as in their last semester of college). You are more than your résumé, and only a multitude of life experience can prove that to a potential employer. Students should be working towards their post-grad life the minute they enter university, and if you start early it will undoubtedly save you some stress during your last year of college. Graduation is an exciting time and does not need to be bogged down with the fear of being perpetually unemployed. letters@chronicle.utah.edu p Donate plasma today and earn up to $300 a month! Who knew I could earn money, save lives, and get free vvi-fi at the same time? 2978 South State St., Salt Lake City, UT 84115 4., -,:1""in 0 0 801-485-5085 0 ▪ • Scan for an insider look at the plasma donation process To scan and view content, you must download a QR code reader from your App store. *Applicable for eligible, qualified new donors. Fees vary by weight. New donors must bring photo ID, proof of address and Social Security number. CSLPIasma.com 4 CSL Plasma Good for You. Great for Life. IT'S TIME GRADUATE PROGRAMS AT WESTMINSTER IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: Business Communications Community Leadership Counseling Education Nursing 1110§111 WESTMINSTER SALT LAKE CITY • UTAH 801.832.2200 westminstercollege.edu/grad 11 |