EPA spill: 'The magnitude of it, you can't even describe it'

[Alan C.]

EPA spill: 'The magnitude of it, you can't even describe it'

 

The city of Durango and La Plata County, Colorado, have declared a state of emergency after a federal cleanup crew accidentally released mine waste into the water.

An estimated 1 million gallons of waste water spilled out of an abandoned mine area in the southern part of the state last week, turning the Animas River orange and prompting the Environmental Protection Agency to tell locals to avoid it.

 

EPA: Contaminated river water tests positive for lead, arsenic

[Mister Mister]

this made me really sad and disgusted to see these pictures.  That sadness is someone mitigated however, knowing that those responsible will be brought to justice, i.e., they will get more funding.

[NumberSix]

This sucks. Unfortunately people will still say, we need the EPA don't you care about the environment.

[Alan C.]

They'll say that this is the fault of people who want to cut government spending.

 

If a private company had caused this, there would be immense public outrage, protests, and boycotts. The environmental movement has nothing to do with protecting the environment; that's just a facade.

[Alan C.]

EPA won’t face fines for polluting rivers with orange muck

 

Unlike BP, which was fined $5.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the EPA will pay nothing in fines for unleashing the Animas River spill.

“Sovereign immunity. The government doesn’t fine itself,” said Thomas L. Sansonetti, former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s division of environment and natural resources.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and other lawmakers have called on the EPA to hold itself to the same standards as it would a private company in the aftermath of Wednesday’s accident, in which an EPA-led crew uncorked a 3 million-gallon spill of orange wastewater from the abandoned Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.

However, “The EPA does not fine itself the way that you would fine an outside company like BP,” said Mr. Sansonetti, who served from 2001 to 2005 under President George W. Bush.

What the EPA can be expected to cover is the cost of the cleanup and compensation for the damage caused, funding that would have to be appropriated by Congress, meaning that the taxpayers will foot the bill.

. . .

So far there have been no estimates as to the cost of the disaster. The orange plume borne by the Animas River has since spread to New Mexico via the San Juan River and is now heading to Utah.

[Alan C.]

Did The EPA Intentionally Poison Animas River To Secure SuperFund Money?

 

A 'letter to the editor' from a retired geologist published in a newspaper a week beforehand makes an eerily accurate prediction.

[Cosmin]

"But without the State, who will pollute our water?!"

[green banana]

Where did the waste water come from? Who produced it?

[markovcd]

 

Where did the waste water come from? Who produced it?

[green banana]

Thank you Marco. One can wonder why the private owners of the mines did not clean up the mess they made? I guess it's easier to privatize the profits and to socialize the negative externalities. 

[AccuTron]

They'll say that this is the fault of people who want to cut government spending.

 

If a private company had caused this, there would be immense public outrage, protests, and boycotts. The environmental movement has nothing to do with protecting the environment; that's just a facade.

A  facade for ego gluttony.

[Alan C.]

EPA knew about risk of blowout at mine

 

Internal documents...show managers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were aware of the potential for a catastrophic 'blowout' at an abandoned mine that could release 'large volumes' of wastewater laced with toxic heavy metals.

[green banana]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Polley_mine_disaster