This collection consists of photocopied newspaper clippings from 1983 to 1986 detailing mercury loss into East Fork Poplar Creek in Oak Ridge, Tennessee from the Y-12 plant. The clippings include documentation of public controversy and fear surrounding this revealed exposure by the Department of Energy in addition to the subsequent Congressional hearing and later efforts to clean up the environment contaminated by the mercury loss.

The first folder include photocopies of newspaper clippings originally held in a three-ring binder scrapbook. It primarily contains publications from local news publications including the Knoxville Journal, Knoxville-News Sentinel, and The Oak Ridger. However, the national reaching of this controversy is demonstrated from included publications such as The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. The second folder contains photocopies from the Knoxville Journal, The Oak Ridger, and Journal Nashville Bureau detailing the mercury leak, the controversy and figures surrounding it, and information regarding the potential detrimental effects of mercury poisoning.