Not to sound overly cynical, but this looks like another "naive reporter discovers how the sausage is made" story. It's always good to get some perspective on these things, but to this forum it doesn't seem like it will be a revelation. Tech manufacturing is an enormous and enormously dirty industry. We're all complicit, of course.
Separately, I'm not sure I like his usage of "dystopian."
I agree; not sure it was a naive reporter or just one looking to report something sensational (truly objective journalism is harder and harder to find).
But I would disagree that even here on this forum a lot of people are really aware of the true environmental impact of tech manufacturing. We've pushed most of that off to remote regions of asia that nobody in the west regularly sees or worries about. We just see the end product, be it finished hybrid or electric vehicles, wind turbines, or the latest gadget conspicuously packaged in recycled paperboard.
One problem is we don't know if it's actually toxic. It's black and ugly, sure, but is it actually harmful? The modest radiation figure he quotes (3x background) is not particularly worrisome.
Clearly some people were interested or it wouldn't have reached the front page. I'm not sure what your point is -- what's wrong with another "naive reporter discovers how the sausage is made" story?
I agree, it is overblown environmental concern. A city full of coal dust like a Dickens novel, with industrial pipes all over the place and pipes pumping mysterious black goo into a lake a few miles away sounds pretty.
Separately, I'm not sure I like his usage of "dystopian."