You seemed to have missed the context of discussion entirely.

OP said this: "wide swaths of Alaska that are now off-limits due to dangerous pollution, including toxic chemicals, unexploded ordinance, and depleted uranium."

Sounds pretty bad doesn't it?  How does that differ from my words "expansive zones of polluted desolation" ? You don't think "wide swaths" and "expansive zones" are roughly equivalent in scope? That the description of "toxic chemicals, unexploded ordinance, and depleted uranium" is dissimilar to "polluted desolation"? Either way, pure hyperbole -- an emotional tool employed with ridiculous frequency by the left.