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toxic waste
Toxic Fallout Continues as Colorado Mine Spill Declared Three Times Larger Than Stated
Communities declare states of emergency over toxic wastewater flowing through Colorado and New Mexico, heading for Utah
Aug 10, 2015
The spill, which last week sent toxic waste from an abandoned mine into a Colorado waterway, released three million gallons of contaminants into the state's 126-mile Animas River—not one million, as previously announced, according to new estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
On Monday, the orange-hued sludge flowed through Colorado and into the San Juan River in New Mexico. The fallout from the massive accident continued to spread, with communities declaring states of emergency and the Navajo Nation vowing to take action against the EPA, which caused the spill.
At noon on Sunday, the counties of La Plata and Durango in Colorado declared a state of emergency.
La Plata County manager Joe Kerby said in a statement: "This action has been taken due to the serious nature of the incident and to convey the grave concerns that local elected officials have to ensure that all appropriate levels of state and federal resources are brought to bear to assist our community not only in actively managing this tragic incident but also to recover from it."
As of Monday afternoon, water quality tests along the rivers were still being conducted. According to preliminary data released by the EPA on Sunday, arsenic levels in the Durango area were 300 times higher than normal at their peak, and lead levels were 3,500 times higher than normal. Copper, zinc, aluminum, and cadmium are also included in the waste.
Meanwhile, the mine continues to discharge at 500 gallons per minute. Although the EPA maintains that the waste is unlikely to have harmed wildlife in the area, local officials in affected areas have advised residents not to use the river for agricultural or recreational purposes or to allow their pets to drink the water.
The Navajo Nation Commission on Emergency Management also declared a state of emergency. During a meeting Saturday at the Shiprock Chapter House in Shiprock, New Mexico, Navajo Nation president Russell Begaye said he intends to sue the EPA for causing the spill.
"The EPA was right in the middle of the disaster, and we intend to make sure the Navajo Nation recovers every dollar it spends cleaning up this mess and every dollar it loses due to injuries to our precious Navajo natural resources," Begaye told those in attendance.
"I have instructed the Navajo Nation Department of Justice to take immediate action against the EPA to the fullest extent of the law to protect Navajo families and resources," he said. "They're not going to get away with this."
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez visited a portion of the contaminated river in Farmington over the weekend. "The magnitude of it, you can't even describe it," she said of the scene.
Climate activists with Peaceful Uprising also staged a protest in Utah on Monday, connecting the spill to the larger issues of fossil fuel mining and the environmental harm such activities cause. Several activists blockaded a Book Cliffs tar sands mine owned by Calgary-based US Oil Sands. They say the mine operates on land that rightfully belongs to Indigenous people and risks poisoning the surrounding environment with a similar spill.
"Thousands of mines like open wounds tell the story of a century of exploitation, destruction and violence--against the people of this land and the land and water themselves," said Melanie Martin, an activist with Peaceful Uprising. "US Oil Sands continues that sick tradition by squandering precious water in a thirsty region and saddling future generations with a toxic legacy there is no way to clean up."
The orange wastewater, still flowing downriver, is heading toward Utah, where the San Juan River joins Lake Powell. In preparation, officials in the town of Montezuma Creek have shut off water pumps there and nearby Aneth, parking a 7,000-gallon potable water tanker at a Montezuma Creek fire station.
The accident occurred last Wednesday after EPA workers attempting to investigate heavy metal waste at the abandoned Gold King Mine in Colorado accidentally unleashed the toxic materials into the Cement Creek, which feeds the Animas River. As Common Dreams reported on Sunday, the cleanup of non-functioning mines in the U.S. has long been hampered by legal and financial roadblocks.
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As Colorado Spill Hits New Mexico, Alarm Sounds Over Abandoned Mines
Toxic waste spill last Wednesday continues to spread, turning attention to issue of abandoned mines in U.S.
Aug 09, 2015
Just days after workers with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accidentally spilled a million gallons of toxic mine waste into a Colorado waterway, the free-flowing sludge that turned portions of the state's Animas River orange reached New Mexico, where health and wildlife officials say they were not alerted to any impending contamination.
As the cities of Aztec and Bloomfield scrambled to cut off the river's access to water treatment plants, they criticized the EPA for their lackluster effort in providing warnings or answers about the spill. The contaminants seeping into the river--at a rate of 548 gallons per minute--include arsenic, copper, zinc, lead, aluminum, and cadmium.
The Animas flows into the San Juan River in New Mexico, which joins the Colorado River in Utah's Lake Powell.
Workers unleashed the waste while using heavy machinery to investigate toxic materials at Colorado's non-functioning Gold King Mine. The EPA admitted that the accident was "unexpected," but it reminds us that defunct mines are still heavily contaminated throughout the West.
The Associated Presswrites:
Until the late 1970s there were no regulations on mining in most of the region, meaning anyone could dig a hole where they liked and search for gold, silver, copper or zinc. Abandoned mines fill up with groundwater and snowmelt that becomes tainted with acids and heavy metals from mining veins which can trickle into the region's waterways. Experts estimate there are 55,000 such abandoned mines from Colorado to Idaho to California, and federal and state authorities have struggled to clean them for decades. The federal government says 40 percent of the headwaters of Western waterways have been contaminated from mine runoff.
There are several factors which contribute to the abandonment of such sites. One is cost, as cleaning up toxic materials can be expensive. However, the legal liability involved is more complex. According to the Clean Water Act, anyone who "[d]ischarges a pollutant from a point source into a water of the United States" without a permit can be prosecuted for a federal crime, even if they were trying to clean up pollution. That has prevented green groups from engaging in those cleanup efforts, particularly as an ongoing push for a "Good Samaritan" exception to the law has been ignored by the federal government, AP writes.
"There's still a whole generation of abandoned mines that need to be dealt with," Steve Kandell of Trout Unlimited, one of the organizations backing the "Good Samaritan" bill, told the AP.
Yet that ongoing issue is exactly what the EPA crew had been attempting to address last week and why it won't accept help. The Denver Post reports:
Silverton and San Juan County officials have resisted efforts to launch a full-scale federal "Superfund" cleanup to address this problem due to fears of a stigma that could hurt the tourism they count on for business.
"These are historic abandoned mines that have had acid drainage for decades. That is the very reason why we were up there," EPA regional chief McGrath said. "We were trying to reach that drainage coming off the Gold King Mine. They were trying to put in a treatment system.
"We have been in conversations with the town of Silverton ... and the state of Colorado about listing this area under Superfund. And if it is listed then, of course, removal (of waste) is part of Superfund that would allow us to take action up there. ... We have not been able to move this area to a listing under the Superfund."
In the meantime, cities have closed river access to recreational and agricultural users while health and wildlife officials conduct additional tests to determine the potential impacts of the spill. Long-term exposure to arsenic and lead can be fatal to humans.
Recent heavy rains have also raised the prospect that some of the waste that washed up onshore as it flowed down the Animas last week would rinse back into the river, causing additional damage.
"It's hard to know what is going to happen as more river flows join it," EPA's on-scene coordinator Craig Myers, in Durango, told the Post. "It is diluting. (The sludge of contaminants) is going to be settling out in places."
La Plata county director of emergency management Butch Knowlton was more direct in his assessment. "The population that lives along this river is at the mercy of the EPA," he said.
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EPA Causes Massive Mine Waste Spill in Colorado That Turns River Orange
Agency calls leak 'unexpected' as environmental groups slam the government's response
Aug 07, 2015
Workers with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spilled roughly one million gallons of mine waste into a Colorado creek on Wednesday, turning the nearby Animas River bright orange and prompting criticism from environmental groups over the government's lackluster response to the accident.
EPA officials confirmed on Thursday that the leak was caused by employees. They had been using heavy machinery to investigate pollutants at the abandoned Gold King Mine north of Silverton.
The agency said impacts on wildlife and the environment in the area would likely be minimal, in part due to the river's "longstanding" low water quality. However, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) responded that such reasoning "offers no comfort to concerns about pollution impacts farther downstream."
"Endangered species downstream of this spill are already afflicted by [the] same toxic compounds like mercury and selenium that may be in this waste," said CBD's Taylor McKinnon. "These species are hanging by a thread, and every new bit of toxic exposure worsens a bad situation. EPA's downplaying of potential impacts is troubling and raises deeper questions about the thoroughness of its mine-reclamation efforts."
Colorado Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Todd Hartman told the Denver Post on Thursday that the Gold King Mine last operated more than a century ago. According to Durango utility manager Steve Salka, the wastewater spilled into Cement Creek, which feeds the Animas River, reportedly contains zinc, iron, copper, and other heavy metals—relics of old-fashioned mines that eventually went out of use.
"The most important thing is what's in it. I need to know," Salka told the Post. "Back in the 1800s, mining used things that aren't allowed anymore."
According to a statement from the San Juan County Health Department, the waste contains "high levels" of toxic materials. The EPA had stored it behind "unconsolidated debris near an abandoned mine portal."
Officials on Wednesday warned farmers to shut off water intakes along the Animas while law enforcement closed the river to fishers, swimmers, and kayakers. Water supply to nearby colleges and golf courses was also suspended. On shores and bridges, residents stood watching as the emerald-green waters turned thick and mustardy with the discharge.
Health and environmental officials are evaluating the Animas River as it flows its 126-mile course through San Juan and La Plata counties. However, they cautioned that it is unknown whether the spill will impact human health. Colorado Parks and Wildlife placed cages with fish in the river to monitor how the fish react to the contaminated water and expects to have results by Friday.
Elizabeth Holley, an assistant professor of mining engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, said the spill was "significant."
The EPA called it "unexpected."
"This toxic spill into the Animas is a disturbing incident that just underscores how vulnerable our rivers, streams, and fisheries are to abandoned hardrock mine pollution," Steve Kandell of the conservation group Trout Unlimited told Colorado Public Radio on Thursday. "The health of our community and recreation-based economy depends heavily on water quality."
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