The EPA badly fumbled its response to the toxic disaster in the Animas River.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s clumsy, tone-deaf response to the toxic disaster on the Animas River was an embarrassment even to the EPA. One agency official managed to admit the reaction was “cavalier,” but that’s putting a mild face on it.

The agency was so slow in notifying people downstream, for example, that New Mexico officials complained they didn’t hear about the spill of 3 million gallons of contaminated water from the Gold King mine for 24 hours.

And the information wasn’t only tardy — when it finally came, it was often incomplete and ill-informed. An agency accustomed to demanding answers and accountability from private polluters was unprepared when the tables were turned and its own reputation was on the line.

For that matter, the EPA badly miscalculated the amount of water in the Gold King mine when workers used a track hoe to clear dirt in front of the mine in order to install a drain pipe, according to the DurStapleton ango Herald.

The EPA now owes the affected communities a comprehensive plan for clean-up, including any contaminated wells, as well as regular updates on progress. It’s the least the public should expect from such an important federal agency.

Going forward, it is also time to consider adding the Gold King mine to the Superfund list, which would spring more money as well as trigger a long-term cleanup plan, but which local communities have opposed.

Finally, so-called “Good Samaritan” legislation should be passed to shield third parties, from nonprofits to corporations, from potentially staggering liability if they agree to remediate abandoned mining sites.

Good Samaritan bills have been touted for years as a useful approach to the problem of so many abandoned old mines but always seem to founder in Congress.

Maybe the sight of an orange Animas will finally make the difference.