EPA knew mine spill possible, says report
DENVER — A probe of a mine waste accident in Colorado that fouled rivers in three states with arsenic, lead and other toxic substances has found further evidence that government workers knew a spill from the gold mine was possible, according to documents released Thursday by a U. S. House committee.
Hays Griswold, a U. S. Environmental Protection agency official in charge of the Gold King mine at the time of the August accident, said in an e- mail that he “personally knew” the plugged, inactive mine could contain large volumes of water.
The e- mail was sent Oct. 28 to other EPA officials. It was provided Thursday by the House Natural Resources Committee as it released the findings of its Republicanled probe.
An EPA cleanup crew triggered the spill during excavation work at the mine’s entrance, unleashing a 3 million gallon deluge that contaminated rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
The release dumped more than 880,000 pounds of heavy metals into Colorado’s Animas River, forcing the closure of downstream public water systems until the plume passed and raising concerns about longterm environmental impacts.
“I personally knew it could be holding back a lot of water, and I believe the others in the group knew as well,” Griswold wrote in the e- mail.
EPA spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said the agency was reviewing the House committee’s findings and had no further comment at this time.
The committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, said Republicans were using the EPA’s role in the accident to shift responsibility from the mining industry for thousands of toxic mines across the U. S. that have been abandoned by owners.