The EPA is here to save us all!

[makattak]

From the horror of clean water:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/us/colorado-epa-mine-river-spill/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/10/navajo-nation-aims-to-sue-epa-over-devastating-mining-spill/?intcmp=hplnws

So, the EPA was trying to clean up a suspended gold mine that was diverting heavy metals into a holding area. Which the EPA then released. (Love the Navajo Nation's response. They are right to be angry.)



I'm sure the EPA will investigate this matter fully and make sure those responsible are held accountable. I'm betting promotions for all involved.

[RoadKingLarry]

I've seen the same pictures from the day it happened but what does it look like today? is the contaminated water still flowing in to the river or has it been stopped? By now they should have begun to see fish dying off it they are going to.

[vaskidmark]

"Sediment does settle," McGrath said. "It settles down to the bottom of the river bed."

It sure does!  The kepone from the Allied plant settles to the bottom of the James River in less than a year.  And it continued to be stirred up by the catfish.  They tried "reverse dredging" - putting a layer of heavy clay on top of the river bed - until they noticed it was stirring up the bottom and kepone levels rose almost to original levels.  After 20+ years of natural sediment deposits the river is declared "clean" and both private and commercial fishing bans have been lifted(except for dragging).

stay safe.

[vaskidmark]

I've seen the same pictures from the day it happened but what does it look like today? is the contaminated water still flowing in to the river or has it been stopped? By now they should have begun to see fish dying off it they are going to.

As of this morning's dawn news helicopter video the spill continues, and it takes more than 100 miles for the color to start thinning out.

I'm not sure that the chemicals involved are going to cause fish kills.  Rather, they accumulate in the flesh and can be passed along to anybody who eats the fish.  Same for the agricultural products irrigated with the stuff.  There seems to be a complete lack of credible information about what what the spill has/will do to the groundwater and aquifer.

stay safe.

[charby]

As of this morning's dawn news helicopter video the spill continues, and it takes more than 100 miles for the color to start thinning out.

I'm not sure that the chemicals involved are going to cause fish kills.  Rather, they accumulate in the flesh and can be passed along to anybody who eats the fish.  Same for the agricultural products irrigated with the stuff.  There seems to be a complete lack of credible information about what what the spill has/will do to the groundwater and aquifer.

stay safe.

Called Bioaccumulation: The heavy metals are consumed by smaller animals, which are eaten by bigger animals and then bigger animals. Basically the heavy metals are bound to the fat and fatty organs of the animals and keep concentrating up the food chain.

I think it has been too soon since the spill occurred to determine if has or will infiltrate the water table. USGS should have the hydrology of the area to make a pretty good assumption.

[Tallpine]

Can you imagine how much of a bigger deal this would be if a private entity was responsible for the spill   

Obama would be calling for banning gold 

[charby]

Can you imagine how much of a bigger deal this would be if a private entity was responsible for the spill   

Obama would be calling for banning gold 

I'm surprised the contractor isn't being tossed under the bus.

[Tallpine]

I'm surprised the contractor isn't being tossed under the bus bulldozer.

 

[Ben]

Can you imagine how much of a bigger deal this would be if a private entity was responsible for the spill   

Obama would be calling for banning gold 

Ha.

I still read the local liberal rag where where I lived because whereas it used to get my blood boiling, it's now kind of amusing since I'm not in the middle of it.

We had an oil spill on the CA coast a couple of months ago. Some people were actually calling for the death penalty for the oil company execs. Also life in prison, bankrupting the oil companies, etc. Some of the "egregious" activity that is still being talked about in the comment section even today is: They underestimated the size of the spill (liars!), they took six hours to notify response authorities, the response was slow, etc. People who had planned on going to the beach or whatever for any days during the spill response were being paid thousands of dollars in "inconvenience" fees by the company. Not to mention the millions in lawsuits that are in the queue right now. Plus they had the nerve to say they were sorry and would do whatever it takes to fix things (How dare they, and also, liars!).

The pipeline is still shutdown, and local authorities have refused to let three oil companies that were transferring oil through that pipe move their oil by train or truck. Their holding tanks are all full (facilities were shutdown over a month ago), and the fed.gov is fining them for the full tanks because inspections and maintenance are due and not being completed because the tanks are full.

In the meantime, news on the EPA spill shows that it's much larger than the EPA initially said; the EPA waited a full day before notifying local authorities; they said they're sorry. Pretty similar to the oil company. The difference is that there was a full response active within eight hours of notification of that spill. Hundreds of people were on scene and cleaning up (an estimated 21K barrels) oil. So far the EPA has been dragging its feet and it seems there is little outcry from the enviros (not even being mentioned by those "death to oil" locals), at least in comparison to the much, much smaller spill by the oil company. I'm guessing any payouts will be much less than what the oil company will have to pay out on the smaller spill.

[makattak]

Can you imagine how much of a bigger deal this would be if a private entity was responsible for the spill   

Obama would be calling for banning gold 

Part of it is how it's being reported. I heard on the radio yesterday that the contaminated water "was spilled from a mine" and the EPA was on the scene.

That's seriously how it was reported. They talked about the dangers of the spill, but left you with the impression that the mining company had caused the spill. LOTS of use of the passive voice.

[MechAg94]

Is this considered a navigable water way?

I guess that comes to mind because down here if we spill something that makes it to a navigable water way, the Coast Guard will be all up in our business probably more than any environmental agency. 

[MechAg94]

David Ostrander, an EPA spokesman, said last week the agency is taking responsibility for the incident.

"We typically respond to emergencies, we don't cause them, but this is just something that happens when we are dealing with mines sometimes," Ostander said.

Yes, he is taking responsibility for the incident yet doing his best to downplay the whole thing.  That is something some idiots have said about people dying in industrial accidents in refineries and chemical plants.  It is not acceptable for business and it isn't for them either. 

So are there any details about exactly how the spill occurred?  Did they knock down a damn or did they think the water was going to flow somewhere else?

[Ben]

Yes, he is taking responsibility for the incident yet doing his best to downplay the whole thing.  That is something some idiots have said about people dying in industrial accidents in refineries and chemical plants.  It is not acceptable for business and it isn't for them either. 

So are there any details about exactly how the spill occurred?  Did they knock down a damn or did they think the water was going to flow somewhere else?

Yup, I have to wonder (well, I don't have to wonder actually) what the public outcry would be if an oil, or any "unpopular" industry said what the EPA said, which is basically, "*expletive deleted*it happens".

[Devonai]

Those responsible for sacking those responsible, have been sacked.

[griz]

Think of it as the opposite of a hate crime.  Unlike getting a harsher penalty for poisoning somebody because you thought badly about them, if you poison people while thinking positive thoughts about them, your crime is absolved.  As long as it's from the heart and you are not a conservative.

[vaskidmark]

Heard a sound bite yesterday on some news radio program that CO Gov Hickenlooper is all butthurt about "the nasty yellow color" of the river.  Nothing about the heavy metals or the effects to agriculture and drinking water.

Also saw a video bite about some .gov type saying the water was safe to touch if you wore "rubber" gloves (looked like he was wearing purple nitrile).  Of course he was standing mid-thigh deep in the soup in a pair of khakis.

A Durango-area photographer has filed a claim with the EPA.  Says the spill effects his business because he cannot use tap water to rinse his prints.

And some clown is worried that there will be no more Coors.  Probably because Golden is 100+ miles upstream from Durango and on a different river.  But at least he has his priorities straight.

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

And some clown is worried that there will be no more Coors.  Probably because Golden is 100+ miles upstream from Durango and on a different river.  But at least he has his priorities straight.

stay safe.

A little over 300 miles by road and on the other side of the continental divide.

[Tallpine]

Golden is 100+ miles upstream from Durango

Durango is only 30-40 miles downstream from the continental divide 

[HankB]

I'm sure the EPA employees responsible for this release will experiences exactly the same personal & legal consequences that an individual working for the mine would experience if he (or she) made the exact same mistake and released that much waste into the river.

Yeah.

Right.

 

[vaskidmark]

I'm sure the EPA employees responsible for this release will experiences exactly the same personal & legal consequences that an individual working for the mine would experience if he (or she) made the exact same mistake and released that much waste into the river.

Yeah.

Right.

 

But the EPA folks did not do anything to cause the release.  It's all the fault of that mean old private contractor company who was doing work for profits (as opposed, I guess, to some nice private contractor company who makes sure everybody gets their "fair share"). [/sarcasm]

stay safe.

[Ben]

CO Governor drinks the water to show it's safe. Guess he's never heard of giardia. Either that or he was given treated water on the sly.

http://twitchy.com/2015/08/13/real-life-toxic-avenger-gov-john-hickenlooper-drinks-from-contaminated-river-gains-no-superpowers/

[vaskidmark]

Never mind.  I gotta remember to scroll all the way.

stay safe.

[Ben]

"The river is restoring itself."

I don't seem to recall that phrase ever being spoken by the EPA at any time they went after someone with $$$ in their eyes.

http://twitchy.com/2015/08/14/shocker-epa-chief-admits-nature-can-restore-itself-but-only-if-the-epa-caused-the-problem/

[Tallpine]

And now, the bull sheet.  This is what the EPA was trying to accomplish all along:

http://billingsgazette.com/news/science/colorado-spill-a-blip-in-legacy-of-leaking-abandoned-mines/article_2834e968-9767-56f2-bdaa-a6a578379fcf.html

Plugging Colorado's Gold King Mine could simply lead to an eventual explosion of poisonous water elsewhere

Well that is exactly what the EPA did (and all the locals told them not to): plug up the mine so that it blew out.

Federal authorities first suggested a treatment plant for Gold King more than a decade ago, but local officials and owners of a nearby mine were reluctant to embrace a federally sponsored cleanup.

So the EPA deliberately causes this spill to force the issue.

[Mannlicher]

truth is, that the EPA has ceased entirely to be about protecting the enviroment, and has morphed into an agency that is the political attack dog for the dhimmicrat party.

I think the EPA just did the spill to do damage, and to harm America.  That is just following the lead of the current administration.  Everything done by the EPA is designed to do economic and enviromental damage.