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.
I remember as a youngster in the 1960’s getting my hands on some very old encyclopedias from the early 1930’s. They described the rise and explosive growth of the chemical industry and toxic waste disposal. It was explained that the waste was being buried in containers underground, that they couldn’t be relied upon to not leak in 100 years time, and the ridiculous GDP growth required meantime in order to practically clean up the mess. They ended by stating that these would be among the exciting challenges faced by future generations.
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33856444
At least it is reported.
And the ‘Environmental Pollution Agency’ tag has not yet been eliminated.
Auto
There is a reason mines get properly capped and sealed. Any mine engineer with more experience than a college degree would have cautioned against this. Root cause and effect goes along way…
Had EPA retained a competent mining engineer, she’d have at least demanded that the surface elevation of the contained minewater be determined, before their mindless weakening of the earth plug many feet below. But the EPA prefers social justice warriors to vulgar engineers, and hydraulic pressure is beyond the comprehension of a social justice warrior in search of capitalist notches on the handle of his legal pistol.
Do exactly what the EPA does to regular citizens: Send armed agents to the EPA and arrest McCarthy.
Oh, wait, I forgot… The government grants itself immunity from liability and prosecution when it does the same thing it holds you liable and puts you in jail for doing.
It’s time to change laws and put governmental criminals behind bars.
I picked up a can of Coor’s today and the GOVERNMENT WARNING seemed to be somewhat reworded: (1) According to the surgeon general, women should drink alcoholic beverages if no alternative to the freshwater from the Animas River is available, because of the risks of birth defects from the river water. (2) Consumption of Animas River water in preference to beer impairs your ability to drive a car or anything at all, and is guaranteed to cause health problems.
(Hope this works.)
http://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ad5-300×272.jpg
It’s fascinating to watch Gina McCarthy respond to this agency crisis. It has a lot of parallels to her testimony in Congress on climate change. She knows a great deal about her agency but “knows very little about what went on in that mine” and nothing about climate science model prediction fail underlying the entire global carbon policy campaigns of the IPCC and EPA. Since when did this leadership style and message management come to the fore in Washington? It is clearly taught and not unique to one agency head. It’s just that the OPM head was not very good at it, and got fired for poor method acting.
Your tax dollars at work, courtesy of EPA.
This mine has been festering for years, yet the EPA has chosen to spend money on things that will expand its power and control over more and more part of citizen’s lives rather than to promptly attend to cleaning up things that need cleaning up. The EPA has become yet another mechanism to impose tyranny. Its leaders should be fired, and its budget must be cut, way back. Above all, it needs to focus on what is important. Sadly, I can only expect more of the same. The nature of the government beast never changes.
The EPA has taken a “California Dreamin'” approach to regulations. “Lead Free” brass is an example.
http://www.environmentalqualityinstitute.org/lead/pdf/Lead-02-097-EQI.pdf
(I think the (greek letter phi)g/l in the article stands for parts per trillion of lead that leaches from regular brass fittings after several hours. Just dump the first cup of water and you won’t even have that.)
But they Imagine how harmful the lead would be if our children teethed on brass fittings so brass fittings must be lead free.
What are they going to say to dismiss the threat of lead, not mention the rest of the stuff they released?
They’ll only reach LA in parts per trillion?
The ironing! It burns!
DENVER — 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.
“That’s going to have to be appropriated because that sort of thing is not included in the EPA’s budget,” said Mr. Sansonetti, now a Denver attorney.
As for compensation, he said, “It’s similar to the BP situation because you’ve got rafting companies that couldn’t raft, you’ve got kayakers that couldn’t kayak, you’ve got ranchers that didn’t want spoiled water being drunk by their cows.”
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.
Copyright © 2015 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/11/epa-wont-face-fines-polluting-rivers-orange-muck/
I think the appropriate remedy would be for congress to fine the EPA an amount equal to what the EPA would fine a private company and do it by removing that amount from their next budget. They should also let the EPA know right now that is what they should expect for their next appropriation. It couldn’t send a clearer message.
Or fire the number of people whose salaries would equal the fine. Starting from the top down.
19 people died in a landslide from an unstable road/ embankment in Australia within a national park at a ski resort, and supervision of the road was at the time by the national parks service; after the landslide the management of roads in national parks was quietly handed over to the roads authority, as it was noted that they didn’t have either the inclination or the expertise to maintain the roads.
EPA FY 2016 Budget (October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016)
For the EPA, the The President’s 2016 proposed budget is $8.6 billion.
I think a $5 billion fine seem appropriate. It would leave the EPA with $3.6 billion. It would also get rid of the following proposed increases. I especially like #2 thru #4 and wonder how they plan to implement #5.
Proposed Funding Level Increases Above FY 2015 Enacted Budget
+ $120 million Goal 1: To protect and improve air quality for all Americans and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop adaptation strategies to address climate change.
+ $70 million Goal 2: To protect and restore America’s waters to ensure that drinking water is safe and sustainably managed and that aquatic ecosystems sustain fish, plants, wildlife, and other biota, as well as economic, recreational, and subsistence activities.
+ $178 million Goal 3: To clean up communities, advance sustainable development, and protect disproportionately impacted low-income and minority communities from the releases of harmful substances.
+ $47 million Goal 4: To ensure the safety of chemicals in our environment, reduce the risk, and prevent pollution at the source.
+ $66 million Goal 5: To protect human health and the environment through vigorous and targeted civil and criminal enforcement and use Next Generation Compliance strategies and tools to improve compliance with environmental laws.
I suggest you mil this recommendation directly to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCOnnell and House Speaker John Boehner. They can be accessed through the internet
Correction “Mil” should read as – email
Malicious intent..who were the MIGRANT WORKERS OPERATING HEAVY EQUIPTMENT DIGGING THE DAM ITSELF? Purposely creating a breach. Go look at pics.
Who is EPA Spokeswoman Lisa Vanderpool married to? It wouldn’t be Dr. Robert Vanderpool would it? Who heads up research on EFFECT OF TOXINS ON HUMANS..AT THE EPA? AND THAT OVERSEES REPUBLIC SERVICES? That’s right, the same people in charge of THE WEST LAKE RADIOACTIVE LANDFILL FIRE IN ST. LOUIS. And other atrocities. Oh they tried to block an interesting recent obituary on Lisa Vanderpools mother in Arkansas. And the addresses in San Francisco, San Bernadino..also why does she haves 4 aliases? Her father worked for..wait for it..the mining industry at a high level. And the nuke industry..Hanford. The same Hanford thats killing everything including the Colorado river.
Yeah, and ARSENIC doesn’t DECAY OR DILUTE at ANY LEVEL. IT REMAINS FOREVER AND IS DEADLY.
PEOPLE, LIVESTOCK, ANIMALS, RIVERLIFE, CROPS..WATER?? WHERE FROM?? TREES, FOLIAGE ALONG WATERWAYS WILL DIE.
BUT HEY, ISN’T YOUR CELL PHONE RINGING?
Hanford is not on the Colorado river, it is on the Columbia river.
This is a huge disaster which must have great consequences to EPA itself.
What has to be done in the first place is give FACTS and make people watchful to all effects of it.
Then investigate thoroughly
– how this “accident” could happen
– and why the response of EPA was so slow.
Of course, EPA bears a tremendous responsiblity. As long as the investigation is in course, EPA has to stop all new initiatives.
The situation is harrowing.
We read on the EPA website:
– EPA protects our health, environment and economy.
– Although we can do a lot to clean up pollution after it’s in the environment, preventing pollution in the first place is even better.
– EPA uses sound science to help protect our health and environment from toxic chemicals.
However, the FACTS are:
EPA accidentally breaches the debris dam in Gold King Mine. The Animas River is contaminated by EPA spill of 3 million gallons of mine waste.
We read on the EPA website:
– The goal of EPA’s ecosystems research is to provide scientific leadership and knowledge for assessing, improving, and restoring the integrity of ecosystems
– EPA conducts research to protect human health and the environment.
– EPA uses sound science to help protect our health and environment from toxic chemicals.
However, the FACTS are (http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/10/us/animas-river-toxic-spill-colorado/index.html):
– One of the arsenic levels in the Animas river in the Durango area peaked 800 times the EPA acceptable level. According to the EPA’s own data on Thursday, an arsenic sample tested still 26 times the acceptable level.
– Lead peaked at 12,000 times the EPA acceptable level! According to EPA, a lead sample was more than 300 times higher than the EPA acceptable level on Thursday.
– Cadmium samples were 33 times the EPA accepable level.
– Mercury: 10 times the EPA acceptable level.
Exposure to high levels of these metals can cause an array of health problems from cancer to kidney disease to developmental problems in children.
The Animas River is a source for drinking water and for irrigation.
Meanwhile, on the EPA website, slogans appear such as: “Global action on climate change will result in substantial economic, health and environmental benefits to the United States.” Is this statement as unreliable as the other statements on the website?
A lot of what you say doesnt make sense. The river was already contaminated from mine runoff AND naturally occurring mineral leaching.
What was the rivers baseline contamination.?
Send Gina McCarthy on a tour of the Navajo Nation, without guards——and dress her up like Gen. Custer.
Or General Clusterf*ck?
Answering the concerns and questions of the Navajos in a timely manner is about as opposite as you can get from an over reach agency that is all about form fitting science to meet advocacy goals and imposing new regulations.
The EPA says now that the spill was far faster, and far larger than they initially assumed.
Nowhere have I seen any reference to the EPA having retained a competent mining engineer before its mindless weakening by backhoe of the earth fill that restrained the minewater. Such individuals are acutely conscious of hydraulic pressure, and would have insisted on determining the surface elevation of that underground water body before turning the machinery loose to peck around – and ultimately release the flood. There’s no excuse for the EPA’s project manager, who’s supposed to be responsible for determining initial conditions BEFORE taking actions. He would certainly included that ‘failure to determine’ in an indictment of any private enterprise for the spill, and deserves a good stiff indictment herself on the same principle.
I wonder how big his raise will be and if it will be competitive with the raises given to the VA management team.
…or her
It now looks like Gov. Hickenlooper is running cover for DC.
It all becomes clear with this news article today. The streams are emitting CO2, and the EPA must kill everything in them to prevent this calamity.
Apologies if this has been posted:
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/8/13/is-there-a-backstory-to-the-epa-pollution-incident.html
Eeek.
Get army corp of engineers in there working feveresly with Sixers to divert the river before it gets to lake Meade to prevent. Lake Meade from being polluted. EPA lady lied through her teeth unless she’s a total moron.
Lied…
& Moron.
This is U.S. federal agency incompetence on display to the world. These agencies cost 10x more than comparable agencies in other countries and end up doing fraud science form fitting and backhoe engineering work. But their true talents are in play now in damage control techniques and getting Hickenlooper to drink from the river.
News flash: The assigned supervising EPA staff were all out working for the CIA at the time and could not be reached for comment.