Tag Archives: EPA

Environmental Protection Agency Admits Toxic Sludge Will Contaminate Water into Mexico

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is admitting the toxic sludge released into the Animas River by an EPA work crew is going to pollute rivers all the way into Mexico.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted waters will be polluted into Utah, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation reservation and into Mexico.  McCarthy said at a press conference they would use the “full breadth of the agency” to try and clean up their spill.

“We’re working around the clock,” McCarthy said. “It pains me to no end to see this happening.”

While they admitted they are the source of the leak, EPA official say they still don’t know exactly what happened to cause the toxic waste to reach the river.

“We’ve launched an independent investigation to see what happened, and we’ll be taking steps to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” Shaun McGrath, the EPA administrator in charge of the region, told reporters on Monday.

Officials said the Animas River and the San Jan River into which the Animas feeds will be closed to the public at least until August 17th because of the toxic metals in the water.   Durango, Colorado and the New Mexico cities of Aztec and Farmington have been forced to shut off their river intakes for resident water supplies.

The EPA workers also admitted that many of the heavy metals will sink into the sediment of the rivers and could be stirred up when a major storm hits the region causing flooding or increased water flow.

Claims are now being made against the EPA by local residents who have suffered hardship because of the spill.  Under federal law, the EPA is financially responsible for damaged caused by any mistakes made in clean up of toxic sites.

EPA Releases 3 Million Gallons of Toxic Sludge into Southern Colorado River

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is coming under fire after first releasing a toxic plume of contaminated mine water into the Animas River and then misleading the public about the size of the spill.

The EPA initially told the public last week the amount of toxic waste, which had turned the Animas River orange, was one million gallons.   The EPA admitted Sunday the spill was actually closer to three million gallons.

On Sunday, Shaun McGrath of the EPA told reporters in a teleconference that the mine is still spilling 500 gallons of toxic water a minute but that it’s being contained in four lakes near the site of the spill where it can be treated by EPA officials.

EPA tests showed the level of arsenic in the river topped out at 300 times the normal level and lead reached 3,500 times the normal level.  

“Yes, those numbers are high and they seem scary,” Deborah McKean, chief of the EPA Region 8 Toxicology and Human Health and Risk Assessment, told reporters. “But it’s not just a matter of toxicity of the chemicals, it’s a matter of exposure.”

Residents who have water wells near the river have been told not to use their water until they can have it tested for the toxic chemicals.  The toxic sludge has been moving downriver into parts of the Navajo Nation indian reservation and into northwest New Mexico.

The EPA has been criticized by state officials in Colorado and New Mexico for failing to report the incident to them.  New Mexico’s Governor, Susana Martinez, said that the New Mexico government only learned of the spill when local indian nation officials reported something was wrong with the river.

“It’s completely irresponsible for the EPA not to have informed New Mexico immediately,” she said after flying over the affected rivers.