EPA chief: Water normal
The Animas’ quality is reportedly at “preevent conditions.”
durango» Seven days after her agency’s massive mine wastewater spill into a major southwest watershed, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said water quality in the Animas River through La Plata County has “returned to pre-event conditions.”
Administrator Gina McCarthy, in a boots-on-the-ground appearance Wednesday in Durango that’s expected to continue Thursday in Farmington, N.M., called the Aug. 5 incident “heartbreaking” and said the EPA “couldn’t be more sorry.”
“Right now, rest assured, we will learn lessons from this, and we will move those lessons forward in the work moving ahead,” she said of the spill of 3 million gallons at the Gold King Mine
near Silverton.
In a 15-minute news conference, McCarthy said cleanup operations at similar mines throughout the country have been “put on hold” until the EPA determines how the Gold King accident happened. Speaking outside a command center, McCarthy said the EPA plans to solicit an independent investigation of the calamity.
Not satisfied
Some Durango residents are angered that McCarthy is neither planning a trip to the Gold King Mine nor holding a public meeting. EPA officials and McCarthy said the mine — roughly a 55-mile trip, some of it over unpaved road — was too far to visit.
“As you know, it is a significant distance away, but I did visit the river. I took a look at it myself to get a sense of the river,” McCarthy said. “And I think the good news is it seems to be restoring itself, but we have continued work to do and EPA is here.”
Her appearance came after Colorado’s senators and the congressman representing Durango-area residents urged her to visit the impacted areas.
“The most important thing for me, for this trip, was to come to the unified command center,” she said, citing a necessity to meet with local and state officials to ensure that their needs are being fulfilled.
“That is my first order of business,” she added.
Anne Marie Greenberg, who has lived in Durango for eight years, came to hear McCarthy speak and found herself feeling unimpressed afterward.
“I wanted to see if they were going to answer any of the questions that have been on our minds,” she said, adding that McCarthy hadn’t.
Greenberg said she feels someone needs to take time to respond to the fear and confusion in the community, specifically on when well water will be safe to drink and what dangers lie in sediment from the mine that has settled in the river.
“You sit there and you take it,” she said of the EPA.
Just before McCarthy addressed the media Wednesday afternoon, members of the Colorado and New Mexico congressional delegations released a letter they sent to President Barack Obama requesting federal resources. In the letter, the group also said the federal government should explore creating a water-treatment plant in the Upper Animas River to remove heavy metals from the watershed at its source.
While the EPA says it’s treating contaminated water still flowing from the Gold King Mine, three adjacent mines continue to release more than 540 gallons per minute of waste laced with heavy metals.
“This is truly a national disaster that requires the attention, coordinated efforts and resources of multiple federal agencies,” the letter says.
“The communities we represent expect and deserve a prompt and thorough response to this disaster as well as transparency and accountability from the federal government,” it reads.
Looking ahead
Asked about what politicians across the Southwest have complained was a slow response by the EPA to notify the public of the spill, McCarthy said, “We will address those issues as we look at the investigation. ... .
“The most important thing is we are moving forward. We are fully ramped up. We have data coming in. We can assess that data.”
Wednesday afternoon, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment informed the city of Durango that “drinking water treatment facilities can begin to use the Animas River to collect and treat water for customers.”
The Animas River in La Plata County, including Durango, remains closed by authorities. The county sheriff’s office has not said when it will reopen the water. Meanwhile, local businesses that rely on the Animas’ flow remain shuttered.
EPA officials Wednesday said the plume of contaminants is approaching Lake Powell in Utah and that apparatus are in place there to conduct testing.
“We are already there,” McCarthy said.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, saying his state has mobilized resources.
A spokeswoman for the San Juan Basin Health Department on Wednesday said results of water testing on private wells in the area have not been returned but are expected “very soon.” A county spokeswoman says the EPA is paying for the tests.
The department earlier this week said a call center set up to answer questions and take requests for well testing was “overwhelmed.” Samples have been sent to labs in Denver and Georgia.
McCarthy’s visit came as Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman was in Durango to meet with her counterparts from New Mexico and Utah.
Coffman on Wednesday morning said in an interview with The Denver Post that a lawsuit against the EPA is “certainly on the table.”
“This is an event that will unfold over a period of months and years,” she said. “Ultimately, my concern is about accountability and making sure the EPA is held responsible.”