How Much Should We Fine Them per day ???

[jc456]

They better clean that up. Fortunately it won't cause even a fraction as much destruction as something like the Deepwater Horizon spill caused. It seems that river was already pretty bereft of wildlife because of steady contamination over the decades due to mining that occured before EPA regulations were in place. And further down there's been just a small spike in acidity.

too funny. It's ok because of history. Too funny dude. It's jokers like you that shame the US of A.

 

[TheOldSchool]

They better clean that up. Fortunately it won't cause even a fraction as much destruction as something like the Deepwater Horizon spill caused. It seems that river was already pretty bereft of wildlife because of steady contamination over the decades due to mining that occured before EPA regulations were in place. And further down there's been just a small spike in acidity.

too funny. It's ok because of history. Too funny dude. It's jokers like you that shame the US of A.

^ Dumb

 

[mamooth]

Given the EPA will be compensating people, one wonders what the kooks here are crying about.

Oh, that's right. They've been commanded to shill for the polluters, so they're shilling.

The EPA didn't make the sludge. Blame the people who did. If you're honest, that is. If you're a dishonest partisan shill, follow orders and keep up your act of deflecting from the real culprits.

 

[Ernie S.]

They better clean that up. Fortunately it won't cause even a fraction as much destruction as something like the Deepwater Horizon spill caused. It seems that river was already pretty bereft of wildlife because of steady contamination over the decades due to mining that occured before EPA regulations were in place. And further down there's been just a small spike in acidity.

too funny. It's ok because of history. Too funny dude. It's jokers like you that shame the US of A.

^ Dumb

^ Dumber

 

[Ernie S.]

Is this a competition? Old Fool WINS!

 

[Ernie S.]

Given the EPA will be compensating people, one wonders what the kooks here are crying about.

Oh, that's right. They've been commanded to shill for the polluters, so they're shilling.

The EPA didn't make the sludge. Blame the people who did. If you're honest, that is. If you're a dishonest partisan shill, follow orders and keep up your act of deflecting from the real culprits.

The mining company told them what would happen if they tried to clean this up, but EPA always knows best.

 

[MACAULAY]

I personally wish you worthless federal employees would just stay on your porn sites rather than go out and fuck things up.

How bad is it?

Sounds like this river that federal unionized lazy incompetents have polluted serves as the source of drinking water for people in several states.

 

[jknowgood]

I heard about it this morning, but I guess Obama will hear about it in a couple of hours. When he turns the eleven o clock news on.

 

[jwoodie]

Unless you have worked for the government, you can't imagine how in competent and inefficient it is. There is no incentive other than to justify more people doing the same thing, since that creates promotional opportunities. (Staff/supervision ratios are less than 1/2 that in private companies.)

 

[sear]

jw #3
The blame game is fine.
It doesn't filter neurotoxic heavy metals out of the drinking water all our countrymen that depend on that river as their water source depend on.
This is an absolute disaster, a catastrophe.
The only remedy for this is to dredge the entire river bed, and that's a prospect that could cost $Billions.

And there are already EPA superfund cleanup sites that have priority; Constitution Marsh in NYS Hudson River for example.

It's a Catastrophe!

 

[Zoom-boing]

If a corporation had done this people would be demanding their heads on a platter.

Has this even made the news programs? I haven't seen it anywhere but on the net.

 

[Clementine]

They are saying the sediment will settle to the bottom and act like it's no big deal. The liberal media isn't in a panic like they would be if it were oil. The toxins are spreading. Stupid move on their part. These are the experts that are supposed to ensure that our air and water stay clean.

"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Anger was mounting Monday at the federal Environmental Protection Agency over the massive spill of millions of gallons of toxic sludge from a Colorado gold mine that has already fouled three major waterways and may be three times bigger than originally reported.

An 80-mile length of mustard-colored water -- laden with arsenic, lead, copper, aluminum and cadmium -- is working its way south toward New Mexico and Utah, following Wednesday's accidental release from the Gold King Mine, near Durango, when an EPA cleanup crew destabilized a dam of loose rock lodged in the mine. The crew was supposed to pump out and decontaminate the sludge, but instead released it into tiny Cement Creek. From there, it flowed into the Animas River and made its way into larger tributaries, including the San Juan and Colorado rivers."

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

 

[tyroneweaver]

the cbs news played this off like the epa wasn't even involved
all of the sudden toxic waste is no big deal.
the epa throws a fit if a guys cow takes a dump in a creek.
I bet nobody is fired over this either

 

[MACAULAY]

If a corporation had done this people would be demanding their heads on a platter.

Has this even made the news programs? I haven't seen it anywhere but on the net.

_______________________

You can learn something about it on Fox.

The gist is that the EPA has admitted that they did it. But, Lois Lerner admitted they targeted conservatives until the Obama-Chicago-Socialists got out some talking points.

The EPA has also admitted that the pollution is of some serious metals and chemicals...but by the time the White House spins it, it will likely be nothing more that orange juice.

WE CAN'T TRUST OUR GOVERNMENT.

 

[Clementine]

the cbs news played this off like the epa wasn't even involved
all of the sudden toxic waste is no big deal.
the epa throws a fit if a guys cow takes a dump in a creek.
I bet nobody is fired over this either

If the blame could have been placed on the company, they'd be shut down already and paying millions in fines in addition to paying for the clean up.

Sounds like no effort is being made to clean it up and they are saying all that toxic material will just sink to the bottom and eventually become diluted and wash away. This stuff is worse than oil, yet we don't see the administration staying on top of it and vowing to make those responsible pay. The EPA is testing drinking water in places that are likely to be affected, but why aren't they doing more?

We had constant coverage of the oil spill and the company was blasted for not doing more and doing things quicker.

These toxins can cause death and can cause diseases, like cancer, long term. This is a huge deal, but the media isn't having their usual hissy fit.

 

[EverCurious]

I hunted down a bit more info. The mine was shut down or abandoned some 90 years ago and the EPA's been "caring" for it since some point. Apparently there's hundreds upon hundreds of these abandoned mines from the 1920's that the EPA tends after.

I read somewhere that "as long as you don't mess with it, they [the mines] are contained and safe" - it was implied that the EPA fucked with the mine for some reason or another, rumor is that they broke a wall and caused the mass outlet of "sludge."

One of the reports I read said that arsenic levels were 500 times normal and lead 3500 times normal - the "sludge" is moving down the river. The EPA had said that it wasn't too much of a danger because the stuffs moving out of areas with the river flow fairly quickly - now I can see that for lead since that's generally an over-time damage thing, but arsenic? And we don't know what other metals and toxins were in there. Huge numbers of people are being told not to play in, fish, or drink the water, don't water crops with it, don't let cattle drink it, told to test their water before doing anything with it, etc. This includes, apparently, at least one American Indian reservation, who is planning to file charges against the EPA.

Either way, the EPA waited to report the "spill" for 24 hours. I'm not sure we can dam it up and filter it because it's already entered the drinking water areas. Its sounding to me like there is no choice but to let it go out into the ocean. Maybe we can do something about it there, but the EPA hasn't even released what's in the sludge that I can find, so who knows if we can fix it at all.

On the plus side, this is apparently a decently fast moving river, which means that it should get flushed out pretty well, just need to get through making sure all these people, farms, and animals get safe water until it's cleared up. After that I think we need to figure out exactly what the EPA was doing/trying to do that caused the mine to spring a leak, if indeed they did anything wrong (though they've pretty much said they caused it so I'm presuming they did /something/ they shouldn't have.)

Better hire a shit ton of water trucks...

 

[jwoodie]

I think the President should be threatened with criminal prosecution, just like the CEO of BP.

 

[my2¢]

Some quotes from CNN's article:

"This is a real mess," said Max Costa, chair of the department of environmental medicine at New York University School of Medicine. "These levels are shocking."

Cadmium is a particular concern for crops, Costa said, as it's readily absorbed.
"Of all the toxic metals, it goes into plants like crazy," he said.

"Oh my God! Look at the lead!" said Joseph Landolph, a toxicologist at the University of Southern California, pointing to a lead level in the Animas River nearly 12,000 times higher than the acceptable level set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"This is a major, major problem," said Jonathan Freedman, a toxicologist at the University of Louisville, who until recently worked as an investigator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

The mayor of Durango, Colorado, said experts from the agency were "noncommittal" about the health effects of the contamination during a community meeting Sunday night.
"There was no good discussion of what these levels mean, and that's what's frustrating. I'm a fairly smart guy, and I walked away without having answers," said Dean Brookie. "It wasn't a great confidence builder."

Animas River toxic spill This is a real mess - CNN.com

 

[tyroneweaver]

better call BP in to clean it up. Obviously the our dem driven epa doesn't have a clue

 

[pwjohn]

Reuters) - Some 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater, triple previous estimates, have poured from a defunct Colorado gold mine into local streams since a team of Environmental Protection Agency workers accidentally triggered the spill last week, EPA officials said on Sunday.

The discharge, containing high concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead, was continuing to flow at the rate of 500 gallons per minute on Sunday, four days after the spill began at the Gold King Mine, the EPA said.

An unspecified number of residents living downstream of the spill who draw their drinking supplies from their private wells have reported water discoloration, but there has been no immediate evidence of harm to human health, livestock or wildlife, EPA officials told reporters in a telephone conference call.

Wastewater spill from Colorado gold mine triples in volume EPA - Yahoo News