EPA Pollutes Animas River
The Environmental Protection Agency, the federal agency committed to protecting "human health and the environment," jeopardized both Wednesday by accidentally releasing one million gallons of wastewater into Colorado’s Animas River.
Downstream in Durango, hundreds of people gathered along the Animas River to watch as the blue waters turned a thick, radiant orange and yellow just after 8 p.m., nearly 34 hours after the spill started.
"It is a sad day. The fish could be gone," said Daniel Silva, 37, who was fishing near Durango as he does every day after work. "I am safety-orientated. Working in the oil fields, we take measures every day to prevent leakage. Why didn't they? If this kills the fish, what do we do?" 
"The river looks pretty nasty," Lowrance said. "It doesn't look like water; it just looks like sludge."
Durango resident Lisa Shaefer said she was near the mine Wednesday when a mine bulwark broke and sent a torrent of water downstream that raised the water level 2 to 3 feet in Cement Creek. The initial wall of water carried rocks and debris and made a roar as it pushed through a culvert, she said. "What came down was the filthiest yellow mustard water you've ever seen," she told the newspaper.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the mine waste spill into Colorado waters is much larger than originally estimated. But an EPA official said Sunday that she doesn't believe wildlife will suffer significant health impacts from the wastewater from an abandoned mine in southwestern Colorado.
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops, Waste
An Environmental Protection Agency crew working at the Standard Mine above Crested Butte triggered a wastewater spill into a creek that flows into the town water supply — a small-scale repeat of the Gold King incident this year... an estimated 2,000 gallons spilled Tuesday, amid efforts to open a collapsed portal.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, who threatened legal action after the Gold King disaster, said she'll do all she can to protect state resources and hold the EPA responsible. "Once again the Environmental Protection Agency has apparently endangered Colorado's waterways while drilling at an abandoned mine," Coffman said.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops
The president of the Navajo Nation slammed President Obama and Democrats for deserting the tribe's 300,000 people after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accidentally polluted a river the tribe depends on, leaving one-third of the reserve's drinking water unsafe. In an exclusive interview with The Hill, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye again called on Obama and administration officials to declare the San Juan River a disaster zone.
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops, Waste
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, made famous from the Oscar-winning movie bearing her name, on Tuesday accused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of lying about how much toxic wastewater spilled from a Colorado mine and fouled rivers in three Western states. Her allegation came during a visit to the nation's largest American Indian reservation, where she saw the damage and met with Navajo Nation leaders and farmers affected by last month's spill, which was triggered by an EPA crew during excavation work.
Gold King Mine Blowout
“Get outta here?!... What do we do now?"
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was trying to protect the environment when it caused a major spill instead.
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops
CBS Denver reports that Governor Hickenlooper is preparing a state of emergency for the areas in southwest Colorado along the Animas River. Both the town of Durango and La Plata County have already issued their own emergency orders.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops
The Navajos, whose sovereign nation covers parts of New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, shut down water intake systems and stopped diverting water from the San Juan River. Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye told The Associated Press that regional EPA officials told him the cleanup could take decades.
"Decades. That is totally, completely unsettling," Begaye said. "This is a huge issue... That is just, to me, a disaster of a huge proportion. And we have yet to hear from the Obama administration."
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops
The New Mexico Governor's office criticized how the EPA released information about the spill. In fact, her office learned about the spill from the Southern Ute Tribe, according to the governor's spokesperson Chris Sanchez. "The Governor is disturbed by the lack of information provided by the EPA to our environmental agencies in New Mexico and strongly believes that people in our communities downstream deserve to have all the information about this situation," Sanchez said in a statement.
The Environmental Protection Agency
Pollutes the Animas River
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops
The water, which spilled into Cement Creek before flowing into the Animas River, contains high concentrations of metals like iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc and copper, but may also contain substances more toxic to humans like mercury, lead and arsenic. “When old mines open up like that, mercury sometimes drains out. Possibly, some other metals might have been released, like lead and arsenic," former Colorado Water Quality Control Commission chairman Peter Butler told the Durango Herald.
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops
DURANGO — A spill that sent 1 million gallons of wastewater from an abandoned mine into the Animas River, turning the river orange, set off warnings Thursday that contaminants threaten water quality for those downstream. The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed it triggered the spill while using heavy machinery to investigate pollutants at the Gold King Mine, north of Silverton.
The EPA Pollutes The Animas River
August, 2015
State Sen. Ellen Roberts, who lives near Durango and sat by the Animas for six hours Thursday as the yellow-orange plume was approaching, said Friday this was "an EPA-caused Love Canal"
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was trying to protect the environment when it caused a major spill instead. On Wednesday morning, the EPA said, it was using heavy machinery to investigate pollutants at the Gold King Mine when it accidentally released 1 million gallons of mining waste into a creek, local station KOB4 reports. The waste spewed from the creek into the Animas River north of Silverton, Colorado, turning the water an opaque orange color reminiscent of boxed mac and cheese.
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Oops
The EPA accidentally caused the spill, reports say
About 1 million gallons of mine waste spilled into a Colorado waterway on Wednesday, turning the water bright orange and prompting officials to warn residents to avoid recreational use of the Animas River.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement arm told lawmakers no one at the agency would be punished for spilling 3 million gallons of toxic mine waste in Colorado. Why? Because EPA only released pollution from Gold King Mine into the Animas River, they didn’t create the mine waste.
“The agency worked hard to find a way in which it could pay individuals for damages due to the incident, but unfortunately, our hands are tied,” EPA spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said.