From the “if a citizen or company did this there would be hell to pay” department:
Guest essay by Emily Zanotti (via Somewhat Reasonable)
The Environmental Protection Agency often justifies its own existence by noting that corporations, who see profit as their goal rather than environmental protection, are ill-equipped (or at least, ill-prioritized) to care for America’s natural resources.
It turns out that, perhaps, the EPA might also be ill-equipped to handle toxic waste when it comes to preventing large-scale pollution of our nation’s waterways. In fact, they may have caused, on its own, one of our nation’s greatest environmental disasters. EPA crews trying to collect and contain waste water in the Gold King mine in Durango, Colorado, loosed 1.1 million gallons of “acidic, yellowish” discharge, causing the pollution – which includes levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, aluminum and copper – to flow into the Animas River (an early tributary of the Colorado) at a rate of 1200 gallons per minute.
From the Denver Post:
EPA chiefs flew in Friday and acknowledged an inappropriate initial response Wednesday in which they downplayed the severity and failed to anticipate the downstream impacts.
Durango identifies itself as the “River City,” and residents’ lives revolve around fishing, swimming, tubing and entertaining tourists along the Animas River.
Most longtime residents know too well the problem of old mines that leak heavy metals into headwaters — an issue around Colorado and the western United States — but never expected a ruinous onslaught like this.
Holly Jobson, 62, walking at noon along banks where yellow sediment was glomming onto rocks, said Silverton ought to push for a proper federal cleanup around mines. Silverton officials in the past have resisted, fearing the stigma of a federal Superfund cleanup designation and the impact on tourism.
By this morning, the waterflow had decreased to around 580 gallons per minute. Lab testing has not yet begun on site, and the EPA is apologizing for their slow response rate, particularly considering the magnitude of the incident. Durango gets most of its water from the Aminas River and relies on the river’s beauty to bring tourists to the town. The city has already lost $150,000 in revenue this month. 1,000 water wells are presumed contaminated.
The EPA has not only claimed responsibility for the spill, but is claiming responsibility for a slow response as well. The EPA says now that the spill was far faster, and far larger than they initially assumed.
The EPA did not have to be on site, to begin with, it seems. The region has a coalition of local organizations called the Animas River Stakeholders Group who have worked together since 1994 to address pollution coming out of nearby mines. The Gold King mine is widely known to be one of the most polluted, leaking around 50 to 250 gallons of waste water per minute. While the group had pushed to find the source of the leak and stem it from there, the EPA went ahead with the project apart from the group, and seemingly without local expertise.
UPDATE: The EPA has now released new figures, and its now 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater and climbing
Emily Zanotti is researcher and writer for The Heartland Institute, and a blogger and columnist for the The American Spectator. She is a ten-year veteran of political communications and online journalism based out of Chicago, where she runs her own digital media firm. Her work has appeared at her former blog, NakedDC, on the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal and across the web.
Mine cleanup would logically be the job of mine owners and operators who dug the mines. Why is a federal government agency in charge of it? There are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of these “acid mine drainage” sites throughout the Colorado high country. Anybody who has hiked, backpacked, jeeped or skied the back country has come upon them… beautifully-colored orange-red scree slopes bleeding down into a permanently-discolored spring, creek or river. After seeing hundreds of these, it’s easy to forget that this is not really a good example of “local color”, and there really is no single person or agency responsible for fixing these messes left over from the early era of mining. The original miners have all long since passed on to that great placer mine in the sky, and their descendants would be destitute if required to reclaim the sites.
A beautifully-written history of these mines in the West, along with some proposals for fixing the mess:
http://www.centerwest.org/publications/pdf/mines.pdf
Everybody hold your horses until real concentration data are known.
This is an EPA-caused mess and the visuals are perfect for alarmist rabble-rousing, but the “toxic” label should be put on hold until the concentrations are known
“High levels of iron, zinc, and copper” used to be “Three of the Twelve Ways Wonder Bread Builds Strong Bodies”
Aluminum never harmed anyone.
Even the trace metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, etc) may not be an issue, depending on the concentration and immediate dilution. And, of course, there must be a credible and persistent pathway from the source to the [potentially] harmed organism before there is any discernible “risk”
“Dilution is the Solution to Pollution” is still an operable strategy.
And isn’t copper sulfate one of the common treatments spread over municipal water supply reservoirs by the waterworks?
copper sulfate is what is used to kill tree roots that penetrate into sewer lines
Copper Sulfate is also used for algae or aquatic plant management. (Wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t know and hadn’t used it!)
It is the most commonly used algaecide in swimming pools as well.
(Chlorine is a sanitizer…kills bacteria and protozoa.)
It is also used to spray fruit and vegetable crops in order to control bacteria and fungal pathogens.
The big issue of course is the concentration.
Which concentrations? The irrigation water, the wells, the sediment, the fish, or the tap water?
WD, had the same isssue with my old yet beloved Arabian mare. Patchy coat, and our vet said was selenium minerals deficient. Supplements did not work. She went hooves up (literally, just before a New Year based on snow on her carcass just after a litle 6 inch snow) not 4 months later. Now, that was a very, very tough holiday season.
Agree. If mostly nano precipitate is iron pyrite, no big problem. Just an ugly PR problem. Been there, done that, twice! That the provisional heavy metal concentrations were not released (upthread) is NOT a good sign. Been there, done that…also. NOT good.
Of course, as has been pointed out, there are some of these which are not benign, such as selenium and especially cadmium.
(Although there is some selenium in those multivitamins they market for aging hipsters…it is really a tiny amount.)
A little selenium is good for plants and animals. I feed selenium to my livestock as the western prairie soils are selenium “deficient”. However, feed too much and you have selenium toxicity. Some people inject selenium into their animals to control the dose.
set up a processing plant and recycle all those metals, new industry for the area, might even make some money, the local economy might improve, perhaps there is some gold in that water now, get the pans out, a new gold rush, wait for me when is the next plane to Denver……..
Concentrations are likely too low to be practical.
I have had the same thought in the past regarding phosphate and nitrate pollution which causes eutrophication once it reaches a lake or the ocean…why not just use it for irrigation and thus fertilizer?
The issue is the concentration and hence the volume of water to be treated. There is a range which is not commercially practical, but still too high to flush into rivers and streams.
If it was that easy, we would not need mines.
Aluminum never harmed anyone
Guess thats why all the warnings not to cook acidic foods in alluminum pans… It wont harm you.
http://www.arltma.com/Articles/AlumToxDoc.htm
Aluminium.
We’ve had ‘Daily Mail’ scares/articles [ in the UK] claiming
Aluminium pans => Alzheimer’s (or some form of senile dementia)
Some years ago.
I think the statistical correlation was about 0.3 . . . .
Auto
Looking forward to seeing their TRI (Toxic Release Inventory) report. “Toxic” in that context has nothing to do with concentrations. When it comes to TRI releases, heavy metals are toxic. Period. The only question is whether reporting thresholds were exceeded.
What is the dollar impact on tourism? Better start the tally.
Here’s a start for the dollar effect on the local economys:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/us/durango-colorado-mine-spill-environmental-protection-agency.html
“When — when can we be open again?” said David Moler, 35, the owner of a river-rafting company who had approached a microphone. “All I hear is a handful of ‘gonna-dos,’ ” he added. “What should I tell my employees?”
There are many farms which use this water for irrigation…
“Children study the river. Sweethearts marry on its banks. Its former name, given by Spaniards, is Río de las Ánimas, coincidentally, “River of Souls.”
On Sunday, State Senator Ellen Roberts, a Republican who lives near the river, cried softly as she considered the pollution, adding that she had dropped her father’s ashes in its depths.”
“It is not just a scenic destination,” Ms. Roberts said. “It is where people literally raise their children. It is where the farmers and ranchers feed their livestock, which in turn feeds the people. We’re isolated from Denver through the mountains. And we are pretty resourceful people. But if you take away our water supply, we’re left with virtually no way to move forward.”
“The EPA has not only claimed responsibility for the spill, but is claiming responsibility for a slow response as well.”
Now that really is surprising. But what’s even more surprising is that they didn’t blame climate change for the sudden reduction in availability of clean, fresh water in drought-ridden Western States… at least not yet.
And Janet Reno claimed responsibility for Waco.
It’s not hard to claim responsibility for something when you know there will be no consequences…other than to the victims of the screw up.
One problem is that the water is flowing very high and fast. Plenty of rain there recently.
All affected residents of the area will now be required to assemble, stand in formation, and chant “THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER????” 10 times in succession.
Give them a few days to organize the message, but it will probably end up as a call to ban all mining via new regulations. Actually, we have already done that effectively and we now import the products and never see the methods or effects elsewhere.
hmmm. Did another comment of mine disappear down the rabbit hole?
I suspect you’re referring to this comment of yours, since it seemed out of place in that other thread.
Yep. I posted on the wrong thread.
They imply man-made “Climate Change” caused the drought in California.
Now the EPA has polluted some of California’s water supply.
Hollywood won’t be happy.
The EPA will state something along the lines of this is a natural result of man’s industrial activities; in this case. if the mine had never been dug to extract the gold, the polluted water would not have been there for the hapless, but well-meaning souls at the EPA to flush down the Colorado river system. Think of the children.
We already have had some here, if those nasty miners hadn’t violated Gaia by digging all those holes into her, none of this would have ever happened.
The EPA’s response: “Let them drink Perrier!”
Badoit – in my opinion – if superior.
Especially the red bottles ‘hyper-petillant’.
Extra sparkling.
Auto
IS superior. (Of course!)
Not drinking Badoit tonight!
Auto, with apologies for incompetent proof-reading.
If you ever see an EPA employee sitting aboard a Caterpillar tractor, run for your life! No telling what he might do. Goofy creatures! Having dealt with them on several occasions, I wouldn’t trust one of ’em with my car keys. On second thought, my car keys would never come up. If five of them arrive at your construction site, they’ll be driving five rental cars. No need to borrow yours for that traditional trip to the local topless bar (where ‘gubment credit cards are always welcomed).
I smell a new parody.
Looking forward to it.
(If it works, the “I’ve got my pay” line should stay.8-)
Nice one, Elmer!
Be fair.
The EPA is very busy fabricating horsesh*t.
What is the cause of the EPA’s animus toward the Animas river?
[Aminals? .mod]
Just skimming through the story and comments I didn’t see this, but, on the local Fox news tonight it was reported that the current estimate of the spill is three time more than originally reported.
My computer frequently goes back to the advertisement as I attempt to scroll down to subsequent comments. Any thing I need to do to stop that?.
If you’re running Chrome, like me, install Flash Control.
If you are using IE, click on tools and turn on ActiveXFiltering. You will need to turn it off to watch flash videos, but it will fix problems with this site.
But then donate, as you are cutting off advertising which supports our host.
Thanks for the tips.
I will try that.
I use Firefox and had the same problem until I added and “add on” to block ads.
They need to prosecute the head of the EPA for lying about the extent of the spill as they tried to do to the BP ceo
In March I scheduled a vacation for Durango/ Silverton in late September and early October. The Durango Tourism Board told me today that I should not cancel my vacation and that the river is clear since last Saturday. I think they are blowing smoke (or is it yellow water) at me since they State of Emergency was set up yesterday (Sunday). I am thinking of canceling and vacationing elsewhere.
I can’t believe this administration chumming for votes in Colorado by having his minions dye the Animas river Broncos orange. You can’t get politics out of everything this administration touches. Any environmental groups want to step up and take a principled stand or are they afraid of getting their grant money cut off or loose their privileges to write the next onerous, unconstitutional regulation.
Yeah, and the EPA guy even said “shit happens” in the business. Boy a mining company has no recourse to that rejoinder.
This is heart breaking. On so many levels this will become one of those events that will teach us as well as try our ingenuity to deal with the reality and find solutions to the problem. I was coincidentally in my local fly shop here in Colorado and the devastating news that this is going to make it to the Jan Juan is just so sad. I recall the pesticide spill on the upper Sacramento that killed everything in it’s path. The only thing I am not seeing that gives me some hope is the lack of huge drifts of dead fish. Dare I hope that this is not as toxic as some mine leaching. I can recall some mine water in West Virginia that literally killed the streams and they remained dead permanently. In other cases I have seen yellowish precipitate that seemed to have little effect except make everything ugly. So many people’s lives will be changed by this. I only hope it isn’t permanent. And of course we should all recall the most frightening words in the English, and probably several others, language. ” Hello, I am from the government and I’m here to help.”
Over large areas of the Northern Territory of Australia, where there are pronounced wet and dry seasons, the first heavy rain can flush minerals that accumulated in shrinking waterholes the dry, to places where fish can then go for the first time in months. No mines for miles around, just natural rain water is involved.It is common to see dead fish strewn on the flood plain after the first big storm of the season. Last I heard, it was aluminium that did the poisoning, one way or another.
In Science, it is usually a good idea to get to know the natural system before you attribute blame to a catastrophe that might be a natural part of the living cycle and nought to do with the puny Hand of Man.
One of the comments from a long time resident in the area with knowledge on the local mines made some statements on the situation on another blog.
There are many mines closely related in the area with one extended under a upland lake and some connecting with each other. The small lake broke through and flooded some lower mine that was first plugged. It filled and ground seepage got into others requiring others to be plugged. Eventually filling them all and oxidation of the fill period causing the orange yellow soup over time. Whole the head supervisor was away a junior decided it was time to jut a pipe in to take test samples. he took a few scoops to shorten a pipe push and saw wet seeping soil. Then wet his pants.
Reminds me of the scene from Ghostbusters when the EPA shut down the ghost containment unit, releasing all the ghosts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Uy9wsfkok
I visited Durango in 1989 and still retain fond memories of my visit. Interesting that a long history of mining in the area has had less impact on the town than the EPA.
My guess is in a few years the scientific reports will report that the Animas River ecosystem was much more resilient to the acidic toxic pulse than they imagined. And that detection of the heavy metal plume fell to background levels in Lake Powell by 2016 as the input of El Nino monsoon rains continued to flush the rivers and creeks feeding the Colorado River.
Lake Powell currently hold 13 Million acre feet of water (late July 2015 readings). That is 4.2 Trillion acre-feet of water. The Animas River toxic pulse will eventually deliver 3-4 Million gallons of concentrated polluted (toxic?) plume to Lake Powell as it jons the Colorado River system.
Do the math: 4.2E12 / 4/E6 = a million-fold dillution. That’s a rounding error on the discharge of heavy meal pollutant levels (measured in ppm) from Lake Powell’s Glen Canyon Dam as it heads downstream to the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead.
Agreed Joel. This is an opportunity to once again be reminded and learn about the resilience of Mother Nature. We should stay tuned but won’t as once the reality that this may not be as devastatingly and permanently bad as we feared (hoped?) sets in, the greenies will become agitated to distraction by the next potential disaster. Certainly no style points deserved by EPA and I’m all about kicking them while they’re down, but I doubt very much the Animas River stays dead for long.
sorry, it’s 4.2 Trillion gallons (not acre-feet)
Your dimensional analysis really helps put this EPA disaster into perspective. It’s truly terrible. Thanks.Joel.