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Did The EPA Intentionally Poison Animas River To Secure SuperFund Money?
A week before The EPA disastrously leaked millions of gallons of toxic waste into The Animas River in Colorado, this letter to the editor was published in The Silverton Standard & The Miner local newspaper, authored by a retired geologist detailing verbatim, how EPA would foul the Animas River on purpose in order to secure superfund money...
"But make no mistake, within seven days, all of the 500gpm flow will return to Cememnt Creek. Contamination may actually increase... The "grand experiment" in my opinion will fail.
And guess what [EPA's] Mr. Hestmark will say then?
Gee, "Plan A" didn't work so I guess we will have to build a treat¬ment plant at a cost to taxpayers of $100 million to $500 million (who knows).
Reading between the lines, I believe that has been the EPA's plan all along"
Sound like something a government entity would do? Just ask Lois Lerner...
As we concluded previously,
The EPA actually has no concern for the environment, they just happen to use the environment as a cover story to create laws and gain an advantage for the companies that lobbied for exemptions to the agency’s regulations, and to collect money in fines. There are solutions outside the common government paradigm, and that is mainly the ability for individuals, not governments, to hold polluters personally and financially accountable.
h/t Stephen
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Oh come on Barnaby they just wanted things to smell nice. Would the use of that also make the contaminates ride along the surface or closer to the surface?
It was saturation like Green Beer Day in Chicago. That takes some know-how, but God love the US Federal Gov't for knowing how to put on a river show! Screw Christo.*
*I'm laughing at the media circus but right now crews are wader-deep in shit that'll strip high density poly to the flesh. Like plastic-eating silt.
Perfect opportunity for Congress to crucify the EPA and defund the department, but the Republicans will probably screw that up too.
You make it sound like there are 2 parties with different agendas........o, if only that were true.
Yeah, same script from the CIA.
BTW anyone with a BS or even a BS-track from a qualified American university will understand the character of substrate, precipitate and titration occurring on a very broad scale.
This can be nothing other than a US Federal chemical assault on the Colorado Free Republic, The Republic of Taos and the Free State of Mexico. Chemical weapons. Like Saddam.
Where's Seal Team Six now that we need them to take out the head of the EPA?
Percolating...
The Unites States Government has definitely become worse than whatever "disease" it was supposed to "cure".
The Unites States Government has definitely become worse than whatever "disease" it was supposed to "cure".
Yeah. "Superman where are you now?"
Same as it ever was.
I can corroborate the common sense findings of Mr. Taylor with respect to the risks and dangers of plugging old mine workings. I'm a geologist with 38 years of experience, including managing the outflows from an old mine in Rico, Colorado many years ago, and I believe the EPA was at best misguided and at worst criminally negligent. Old mines never have complete enough information to understand the exact locations of all openings and natural fractures. Mr. Taylor is correct that hydraulic pressure is potentially tremendous in mines with large vertical development. Mine discharges reach a quasi-equilibrium if left alone, flushing metals at certain times of year more than others; e.g., higher in the springtime. Any new flooding inside the mine will mobilize all of the bad stuff and create a nasty reservoir of toxic water. Anyone in the mining business would have cautioned the EPA on these facts. Either the bulkhead they installed was stronger than the rocks to hold it in place, or it was undersized due to an underestimate of hydraulic pressure. As a sidenote, large areas of high elevation in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado drain areas of mineralized rocks that generate natural metal "pollution" on contact with rainwater and snowmelt. While historic mining sites locally aggravate this situation, the environment downstream manages due to dilution by cleaner inflows originating in other surface and groundwater sources. The EPA upset whatever balance there was with it's actions, creating a plume too dirty and too large in volume to dilute. If you have Congressmen and National Guard, you should kick these idiots out of your state for good and put the long-term solutions to this mine discharge in local, accountable hands.
They didn't install a bulkhead! They were still just doing investigations...
They were just investigating for one. What it appears they may have done was put an unconsolidated dirt fill plug in place when they left after their investigation 10 months ago... then were reexcavating their own plug that they thought would "only" have 5 feet of water behind it (Still an amount that would scare me!), found out they had 12 feet of water behind it (That number doesn't even make sense when I look at the portal photos... that would mean it was full to the top, and who knows how tall the water column was back in the stopes etc)...
"“Upon suspending work last year, the (EPA) backfilled the portal to the mine. While the USEPA was removing the backfill from the portal to the Gold King Mine to continue its investigation this year, the plug blew out releasing contaminated water behind the backfill into the Animas River,” said Nancy Agro, the company’s attorney in the statement."
http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20150806/NEWS01/150809720/Plans-to-...
The spill itself is going to temporarily solve the problem. Three million gallons have escaped and will not be recaptured. However, depending on the flow of the Animas river and tributaries farther downstream it may quickly dilute and become less than toxic even if not ideal. I prefer the math to panic.
The question I have is that these mountains are full of metals naturally. Water naturally infiltrates and exfiltrates back into streams. The total volume of water available does not change dramatically with or without mines. The only variable I see, given the mines are closed is that the surface area of rock available to dissolve metals is increased dramatically. The time to dissolve I will assume is still constant if one does not make pools as the EPA did.
Is not the final best solution more or less to leave things alone and allow surface water to dilute mine and natural ground water exfiltration?
Animas gets orange flavored Enema!
Another crime against humanity by a socialist regime. Whocouldanode it?
Just waterbaord Mr. Hestmark from EPA and you will get the truth - I mean you have all the experts in your "God bless America"
Use the "GOld King" water.
That is what I said happened in one of the first articles on this. No accident. Deliberate.
Incontrovertible proof that any sort of regulation of private industry always always always ends in a deliberately designed disaster intended to fund commies.
(This comment approved by the Och Kosh B' Gosch Cheerleading Club™ and their resident ZH Union of Outrageous Comb-over Echochambermaidens)
I keep telling you, the bureaucrats are the source of our demise.
Would the government create their own chemical spill? Gee I dunno, would they send assault rifles to Mexico? Would they pay banks for breaking the laws they're supposed to enforce? Would they claim that the terrorists "hate us because of our freedom" and then pass the PATRIOT Act? Nah, this is just a conspiracy theory.
And would they start color revolutions in Ukraine and other nations, like Russia, via NGO's such as USAID and NED, which not only are overseen by the Democrats (Communists) currently in power, but also supported by RINO NEOCONS like John McCain and Lindsey Graham? Like trying to overthrow Assad in Syria by creating ISIS?
So I ask YOU, General Wesley Clark, exactly who is "disloyal to the US" and our constitution, and should be interned? Maybe, YOU?
EPA - E Pluribus Anus ("From Many, One A$$hole")
A fitting moniker for Federal Employees.
Oh, so impressed. This is 'high quality conspiracy theory.'
The ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY.
how perfectly Orwellian is that?
gotta love their sense of timing though, especially if this spill is larger than they have thus far admitted to and has any kind of substantial impact on the Colorado river.
not to worry though, they can always print more water.
ah well, back to those magical levitating markets, what a comeback huh?
greetings from the land of never ending absurdity.
You forgot to mention how the former owners of the mine are sitting on their yachts laughing at how people are blaming the EPA for the mess they left behind.
na, they didn't forget to put that fantasy bullshit in there just for you
Tyler,
Great work as per usual. Any Gov't institution under the neo Bolsheviks is merely a tool for control of change. IRS, Homeland Security, Dept of Immigration.... all breaking standing law with "in your face" agggressiveness and with impunity. The EPA is just the next one ... with the full consent of the Banking elite
As mentioned last week, "they" are going to try and make PM mining a thing of the past. Like oil, anything that "desecrates" Mother Earth can be advertised via Facebook and Google as the new "threat" to humanity. Calling Al Gore !
"Alternative" energy, "alternative" life style, now we are seeing an altrenative to Gold and Silver as a basic element that stores value. Like the X and Y chronosones are the basic elements behind determining "Male" or Female" the Media has announced that Transgender is a choice of an altrenative reality that must be accepted.
Electronic "coin" will be promoted as the new healthier, Earth friendly, store of value versus Goldand Silver. You know this has to happen because the Central Banks are at the end of the QE money printing mirage. If prices of Gold and Silver ever slip from their grasp / control they are toast in mnay ways. This is just the first stroke in that regard.
Do I have this right: Mineralized, etc., water has been flowing "naturally" out of the mine and into the watercourse for decades until EPA blocked it off, then ten months later destroyed the blockage, releasing 10 months of accumulated flow in a matter of a few hours?
That is my current interpretation of the situation, yes.
The gold king regularly flows at 30-50 gallons per minute... the ecosystem has been able to pretty much handle the small drains if they flow at low rates... it's the massive volume that really swamped the Animas.
The accumulated flow is STILL coming out of the portal, but it's down to about 200 gallons per minute. The EPA has set up 3 treatment/settling ponds below the mouth of the portal to apply floc and lime and try to get the metals to settle out before reaching Cement Creek.
Have you heard if the flow took out some associated tailings ponds? That contaminated water looks just murky enough to have come from breached tailings ponds. It sounds as though the normal mine flow was restricted by the agency for some reason. I would like to hear their rational if this was so and how they proposed to contain/control the mine flow in perpetuity.
Thanks. I assume shafts go downward from the portal. Do they have water in them and where does it go?
Every mine is different and I don't have a map... yet... of the Gold King workings.
It's very possible the portal adit extends horizontally for some thousand+ feet before ever encountering a vertical shaft. Off of these horizontal adits there are also probably more adits, and then you get to the stopes... the massive rooms that were created when the miners encountered a large ore body and blasted the whole damn thing out. They can be 80 feet tall with 100+ foot diameters.
Mine pool water = groundwater... the mine shaft/tunnels just give the groundwater a much faster route than they'd normally have through fractured bedrock, and provide an interstate for taht water to be carried out. It's always going to the point of least resistance... sometimes that's lower draining portals in the workings... sometimes that's seeps on the mountain side... sometimes it just gets stored until it can find a point to breach through and explode out.
Edit: I did track down some of the mine maps on Twitter...
https://twitter.com/minemaps/status/631194130350276609
https://twitter.com/minemaps/status/631194409648934914
The EPA is behaving as if they are TEPCO. First screw things up royal and do nothing to prevent a foreseeable problem (best case scenario), deny the problem when it begins, give no adequate warning to those affected, as the problem becomes apparent downplay it and lastly.... cover your ass at all costs.
New Mexico is already preparing for suit one of they things they would like to know is why this crap was unleashed and they were not told immediately. Apparently NM didn't read the TEPCO play book or notice how the US stopped all significant radiation monitoring following Fukushima. The EPA is guilty as hell in the Fukushima scenario as well, this is just par for the course.
You have this right. Folks are posting alternative interpretations here, and some of it may be correct, but none of it absolves the EPA at all. Underfunded? Then scream it at the top of your lungs that this is going to keep happening because you don't have enough money to protect us. Outline what is needed, where, that is not getting done and show us a rough dollar amount.
I think it is much more sinister than not enough money. Influence is being sold. SEC, FDA, and all the rest.
Who knows how bad it really is. The tell IS in what they don't tell (like decreased radiation monitoring).
I thought the tell was increasing safe radiation levels and the lack of monitoring on the west coast.
We focus too much on carnal things that are here today and gone tomorrow; we should be focusing on the eternal things that last forever and etched in stone.
A thing that you forgot is that they also get to specify the solution and supervise its execution, with fines, penalties and jail for the perps.
simply prophetic.
In the northeast, beach goers are restricted from using beaches for fear of disturbing the protected piping plovers. For the sake of the plovers, the EPA is shooting the coyotes.
Name one thing the governmant hasn't fucked up?
Creating govt assistance slaves?
That which they have not touched...having a hard time finding that.
Always follow the money...
Better to follow the Lord.
Amar-Utu ain't gonna getcha anywhere.
Waking up is a better strategy.
I bet the EPA works with the same bankers as FEMA and FNM, FOIA anybody?
Was the new plant financing in place already?
Smitty - since the repeal of Glass Steagal ... there are not that many banks that one can deal with. That was the reason for the repeal...DUH.
Paranoid conservatards.
out of touch libtard
The newspaper confirmed that they did publish this letter.
http://www.silvertonstandard.com/news.php?id=847
Just add plastic shade balls to the entire river system and you will not see any pollution. Go long in shade balls.
They are black in LA but will be rainbow in San Fran.
It is not the EPA per se.
Bear with me a moment.
Maybe they did it inentionally. Maybe not.
It hardly matters, because they have an incentive to be either neglectful or malicious...because that is where their bread is buttered.
At the same time their status with government makes them immune from retribution and punishment.
Humans are biological animals, and gaining government employment doesn't change the way the biology reacts.
With government, all the incentives are perverse. And the ability to impose sanction against government is in inverse proportion to the amount of power you give them.
So...I am sorry. It is not the EPA, per se. All government agencies are going to behave similarly.
And for those who envision their various Utopia's being underwritten by the power of the gun, if only, if only, if only they give government enough authority?
They're fools.
If you give enough authority to government to create your Utopia, you'll have also given enough authority for the government to ignore your desires.
One way or another Utopians are just going to have to learn to deal with other people valuing things differently from themselves.
or, put more simply, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely
Firstly, I agree.
Secondly, it takes intelligence to apply simple principles to complex reality. Most people aren't used to thinking that deeply. Hence, usually someone has to spell it out.
Better not let the college kids see this. Their brains will pop!
I am disgusted and want to question the EPA apologists as to what their motives are. This is a major screw-up by the EPA and no rose colored glasses or deflection of who to blame is going to change the fact that the EPA is 100% responible for this disaster.
Did you read what the geologist said? This was no accident; it was done on purpose. This is not a story except for the poor souls who just lost their livelihood, but now they can get better paying jobs via the EPA. It is sad; we were there in both Silverton & Durango via the Silverton/Durango Railroad. It is a beautiful area and perhaps the government has found a nice Gold deposit and want it; probably related to the Clinton's...after all they know how to turn tungsten into gold via Ft Knox.
A bankster's false flag against gold.
The Superfund idea is hooey.
.gov can sue, prosecute, fund and reward anybody they like with the fiat they print out of thin air.
Gold mining and public attitudes toward private gold ownership are the targets of this "accident".
"A mine named The Gold King poisons drinking water across the west in the midst of an epic drought."
Scripted propaganda.
BS, it's like saying we are are living on a round ball globe.
It wouldn't be the first time the EPA has made a grave mistake...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vxEimC3HME
Nothing is beneath the corrupt EPA
Law of war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_in_bello
Casus belli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casus_belli
Jus ad bellum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_ad_bellum
were so fuked
http://www.naturalnews.com/050759_EPA_pollution_toxic_heavy_metals_Healt...
this is not your fathers socialism
Email this to everyone you know. The entire country needs to be made aware of this. Will you let this be old news tomorrow? If you do, then there will be more and more of examples like this. These rotten bastards must be stopped at all costs! Heads need to roll over this! That town needs to go to war, literally, with those rotten pieces of discarded dog shit when they show up! And they need everyone's help!
I think the town with the worse gripe would be Durango. They are downstream of that mess and river activities are popular with tourists out of there. It sure won't boost the ticket sales on the D&RGW narrow gauge rail line between Durango and Silverton either. Real shame! I love that river. I flyfished and floated it into Durango. I even got off the train halfway up to Silverton to fish the canyon stretch a bit, getting back on when they returned later in the day and stopped to add water for steam. Nice memories. Pleasant towns, mountains and geology.
No way. The EPA is from the government and they are here to serve and protect us and the planet. No way they would do something like this. I mean, c'mon, next thing you'll try to tell me BS like the ATF sold guns to mexican drug cartels or Hitlery had classified information on her personal email...................
All you need to add to the picture now,are some semi-naked brown skinned women washing clothes on the riverbank,and I could swear this photo was taken in Guatemala..
Here an other one like that, almost if someone has been payed off to 'buy the rumor, sell the news'.
And since the level of corruption has gained to such high levels in the U.S., I wouldn't regard this hypotheses as too far fetched at all.
Corn Prices Are Getting Crushed After the USDA Unexpectedly Raises Crop Forecasts http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-12/usda-unexpectedly-rais...
Corn Crop Conditions Seen Worsening in Satellite Images http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-10/corn-crop-conditions-s...
Dirt Like Concrete Choking U.S. Corn as Dry Spell Damaging Crops http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-10/dirt-like-concrete-cho...
Worst El Nino in 30 Years Hits South American Crops http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-12/worst-el-nino-in-30-ye...
Nothing like a little bit of monsanto to turn the black soil grey.
I am making assumptions...but I would think that it was a contractor who was involved...vice EPA employees...therefore it was the "bad contractor" who did this...and EPA is going to investigate this serious manner..well because they are just as concerned about this tragedy...also will need for Congress to do a "cover my ass" hearing and hammer all the bad guys...EPA will come back and say their organization did not handle this correctly and so they are going to add another department to their organization...code named "No More Yellow"..of course this dept will need to be funded by Congress..I mean the taxapayers...but we can't ever let this happen again...so let's fund it...bottom line...EPA screws up and is awarded a bigger budget..and the river just keeps flowing
Well, the geologist's scenario did not actually predict what happened. The EPA caused a catastrophic release of toxic waste, which is far different than the subtle release the author was suggesting would happen. What actually happened in no way proves the geologist was right about the EPAs intent.
I am not an engineer, but I have worked with enough fluid and hydraulic issues in the oil patch with many engineers to know that what he is saying is spot on. Water is a powerful force. The EPA engineers know this and more. Of course they did it on purpose!
here is an interesting view from a navajo
https://instagram.com/p/6TwdQGwQ7g21_Z-XMQ4TjSDK5Odvi9HMSFz1I0/
anyway some ppl in the navajo nation are thinking the epa did this on purpose because they would not give up their water rights...
I don't know if this point has been made yet or not and I'm not going to read through 300+ comments to find out.
It should be noted this mine was privately owned and operated. The company created the waste and built a faulty storage diked pond. Then they abandoned the site and scurried away in the night leaving the mess to the public, the only entity left standing. Another classic case of privatizing the profits and socializing the costs.
Haven't we learned from overwhelming numbers of similar incidents that companies must be held responsible for the messes they make? The externalizing of these costs will eventuall break every economy that allows them to happen. It's all part of environmental responsibility.
SHould have read the comments. Your initial facts are entirely incorrect.
It wasn't privately owned, operated and abandoned?
Why has no one looked at the obvious outcome, poisoning the water supply of the entire southwest US, thereby adding to the drought situation. Slow Genocide of Las Vegas, southern Nevada, Northern Arizona, southern Utah, the agriculture of those areas along with western Arizona, southeastern California, and the Colorado river project water to most of southern California. The eventual destruction of the fisheries and recreation of Lake Powell, Lake Mead, Havasu, the southern end of the Colorado river and eventually the gulf of California. EPA version of Fukushima in the southwest! If you live in that area I would say it is time to move to someplace you can secure your water supply. Water is life folks, and if you think for one nano second those psychopaths in the EPA bureacracy in DC care about you or your health or well being, smoke another bowl and keep dancing with the stars on the deck of the Titanic.