but the refining process requires vast amounts of water anproduces 2 tons of sandy residue, called tailingsvery ton of iron pellets. and thatreates a proem. those tailings have to be put somewhere. and for years, the cheapest place to put them was the lake. that upset a lot of people ke environmentalist alden lind. the save lake superiorassociatiostarted in late '69 and came about largely because of concerns of people who lived in the silver bay vicinity about the impact of the tailings disposal on lake superior. schoumacher: it wasn't long before a new federal agency got involved. dr. phillip cookemembers. cook: i think there was kind of a gut action of people living in the area who were... more environmentallyoncerned that something that big was a problem. they didn't really, at first have any specic concerns othethant looked like the lake was gettingloudy and there was obvious turbidity being caused in the immediately vicinity of the discharge but, you're right, there was a feeling that this was a lot of material going in the lake. schoumacher: uneasiness soon turned to fear. in973, word