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February 04, 2016 02:47 PM UTC

Enough Is Enough: Durango Demands Superfund

  • 6 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
EPA treats wastewater at Gold King Mine.
EPA treats wastewater at Gold King Mine.

As the Durango Herald’s Jonathan Romeo reports, patience in the city of Durango with continued dickering by officials in upstream San Juan County and Silverton over requesting Environmental Protection Agency National Priorities List designation for the cleanup of disused mines near Silverton has reached its limit:

Nearly six months after the Gold King mine blowout, and with Silverton still in limbo over Superfund, a sense that downstream communities should take a larger role in negotiations regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s hazardous cleanup program is growing.

At the San Juan Citizens Alliance’s quarterly meeting Wednesday, several Durango and La Plata County residents urged local officials to take the reigns in pursuing a Superfund designation in time to make the EPA’s March listing.

“San Juan County’s concerns are speculative,” said La Plata County resident Frank Lockwood. “Our concerns are not speculative. Ours are real. We’ve defined them economically, and I think our government officials should move forward.”

Rep. Scott Tipton (R).
Rep. Scott Tipton (R).

Last month, the wheels appeared greased for all of the local governments affected by the August minewater spill above Silverton into a tributary of the Animas River to put aside dreams of resumed mining and finally allow the Environmental Protection Agency to bring the full resources to bear to clean up the massive problem. It was an EPA work crew that accidentally triggered the release of millions of gallons of contaminated mine waste water, but their mishap was little more than ripping the scab off a much bigger and older problem–a problem that has threatened the health, safety, and prosperity of tens of thousands of people downstream along the Animas River for many years. Resistance from mining and commercial interests in San Juan County (population 692) is the principal reason that Superfund status wasn’t granted to this area, and the reason why only this ill-prepared investigative crew was working the problem.

[Hermosa resident Clint] Kearns questioned whether Silverton and San Juan County’s list of demands were a “poison pill” to put off Superfund status, a program the community has strongly opposed for more than 20 years, citing concerns over a perceived stigma the designation would bring to a town dependent on a delicate tourism economy…

In Silverton’s defense, John Whitney, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, said the community to the north’s concerns are not unreasonable, and despite the delay, he believes an agreement can be reached by next week.

The concern is that the delay by Silverton and San Juan County in joining downstream cities in requesting Superfund designation may already have blown the chance to be considered in the first of the EPA’s two annual rounds of evaluations. Sen. Michael Bennet’s involvement in bringing the parties together to get a deal is nonetheless commendable–and stands in stark contrast to the area’s Congressman Scott Tipton, whose disingenuous vilification of the EPA after the spill makes him part of the problem not the solution.

And that solution is: the citizens who rely on the Animas River need the Superfund. They need the EPA.

Comments

6 thoughts on “Enough Is Enough: Durango Demands Superfund

  1. In Silverton’s defense, John Whitney, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, said the community to the north’s concerns are not unreasonable, and despite the delay, he believes an agreement can be reached by next week.

    In John's defense, mediators have to convey a sense of empathy to be effective, but yeah, John, their concerns are totally unreasonable.  An their lack of action, well that's borderline criminal.

    1. THE EPA CAUSED THE SPILL. If you don't see why people are skeptical of them now that they want to REALLY help, you've got rocks in your head. The Left will never understand why those not like you don't want government in our lives any more than absolutely necessary. BECAUSE THEY SPILL THINGS just like everybody else.

      THE EPA CAUSED THE SPILL.

      THE EPA CAUSED THE SPILL.

      THE EPA CAUSED THE SPILL.

      Keep repeating it until you get it. Jeez!

      1. Which was only a dramatic manifestation of the constant, continual leaking, many Gold King blow outs worth, going on all the time. Yes, the EPA screwed up while trying to fix it. Did you forget there was a reason it needed fixing in the first place? But the damage is being done all the time, simply at a less attention getting rate.

        Regardless, it’s something that has to be dealt with (Jeez!) and the way to deal with it is through Superfund status. Or would you prefer to just whine about the EPA and do nothing to fix the problem now? Rhetorical question. Of course you would. Benghazi! Just go on chanting (in all caps) about the EPA. Don't bother your empty little head over looking for solutions. Don’t bother to examine the larger problem in light of either short term or long term fixes.

      2. The EPA caused a spill.  Of 3,000,000 gallons.  Since 2005, the Gold King mine had been releasing at a rate of 200 gallons per minute (sometimes more).  In the 10 years before the EPA spill, that means the mine discharged well over 1,000,000,000 gallons of toxic waste.  So, of the pollution caused by the mine, at least as long as we've been paying attention, the EPA is responsible for about .3%.

        Should that have happened?  Nope.  But the folks in Silverthorne sure as hell aren't going to be able to clean it up.  Oh, and about that not trusting the EPA thing?  The town and area representatives have been fighting a Superfund designation for 20, fucking, years.  How do you explain the other 19 1/2 years of failure to act?  Stop killing people in service to your golden idols and we'll stop trying to put government in your lives.

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