August 11, 2015

Durango, Colorado

The Latest: Colorado mine spill ‘pains me,’ EPA Chief, Gina McCarthy,  says
EPA chief takes full responsibility for Colorado mine spill, says it ‘pains me.’

August 10, 2015

Emergency is declared after EPA  pollutes river.   Was this intentional?   Something smells fishy!  And they keep telling us the EPA is trying to keep us safe?  Is this another conjured crisis that this administration is not going to let go to waste?  Or is this part of the Obamacare death panels depopulation movement?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that a clean-up team was working with heavy equipment Wednesday to secure an entrance to the Gold King Mine.  Workers instead released an estimated 1 million gallons of mine waste into Cement Creek, which flows into the Animas River.  Why would the EPA release one million gallons of mine waste to begin with?

The city of Durango, Colo., and La Plata County, Colo., declared a state of emergency Sunday after the Environmental Protection Agency took responsibility for breaching a debris dam near a Colorado mine, releasing water contaminated with heavy metals into a river that flows through the region.

La Plata County Manager Joe Kerby said the decision stemmed from the “serious nature of the incident.”

Meanwhile, the Navajo Nation is considering suing the EPA. Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye told the Farmington, N.M., Daily Times that he had directed Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch to assemble a legal team to file a lawsuit against the EPA.

“They are impacting the livelihood of our people,” he said.

Begaye said he was disappointed with the EPA’s lack of information and disclosure about the types of toxic metals that were discharged into the Animas and San Juan rivers.

Begaye was also expected to declare a state of emergency in response to spill. He confirmed late Saturday that the plume containing toxic metals released from a mine near Silverton, Colo., was traveling through the reservation.

Navajo Nation Council Speaker LoRenzo Bates told the Daily Times that residents were concerned about drinking water safety, river access, water for livestock and crops, and the possibility of compensation for failed crops. With irrigation canals shut off, many farmers are concerned about their next step, Bates said.

“If these farmers don’t get water in the next week, they’ll lose their crops,” he said.

The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) warned residents to stay away from the river and to refrain from using its water for livestock and other household needs. But it said communities along the San Juan River get their drinking water from the city of Farmington, N.M., so it is safe for consumption.

Mustard-colored water flowed this week into Cement Creek, a tributary that runs through Silverton and into the Animas River. In New Mexico, the plume of pollution entered Aztec early Saturday morning and Farmington later that morning. Officials said they expected it to reach the Utah border on Monday and Lake Powell, in Arizona, late Wednesday.

State leaders in New Mexico criticized EPA’s response to the spill. “There’s a lot of questions that our constituents have, and so many communities have as well, that we need to get rapid responses to,” said U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said the state’s first notification of the spill came from Southern Ute Tribe officials. “It’s completely irresponsible for the EPA not to have informed New Mexico immediately,” she said after flying over the affected rivers.

State Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn said the EPA did not notify his department of the spill until almost 24 hours after they’d caused it. He said the agency’s initial response to the disaster was “cavalier and irresponsible.”

EPA regional administrator Shaun McGrath said the agency was “busting our tails” to provide a thorough lab analysis of the contaminants, which include lead and arsenic. The EPA said it had finished building two containment ponds to treat the yellow sludge.

About 1 million gallons of wastewater began spilling into the Animas River on Wednesday. The mine has been inactive since 1923.

Another EPA regional administrator, Jared Blumenfeld, said the plume begin flowing through the Navajo Nation on Saturday. He said the EPA has been in contact with Begaye and Donald Benn, executive director of the Navajo Nation EPA. He said samples continue to be collected from the San Juan, and said two agency staff members were working with the tribe.

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