Colorado Governor Drinks Water from Contaminated Animas River

The toxic spill began last Wednesday near Silverton, Colorado when an EPA contracted team trying to access and treat metallic waste in the abandoned Gold King Mine broke through the wall of a retention pond which sent wastewater laced with lead, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium and mercury gushing into the Animas River. The water eventually winds up in the Colorado River, including Lake Powell. The Summitville gold mine in southern Colorado became a Superfund site after the Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. declared bankruptcy.

The Gold King Mine hasn’t operated since 1923.

Cleaning up these messes can cost a staggering amount of money.

“No agency could be more upset about the incident happening or more dedicated about doing our job and getting this right”, McCarthy said.

The issue of neglected mines and their waste is one facing the western United States.

Earthworks is a Washington-based nonprofit environmental group that works with communities near mines.

There are hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines nationwide, and many cause damaging pollution.

How unsafe could these mines be?

The spill led two Colorado municipalities, including Durango, and the New Mexico towns of Aztec and Farmington, to shut off their river intakes.

Levels of arsenic were more than 24 times the exposure limit for fish and 823 times the level for human ingestion.

“This is a major, major problem”, said Jonathan Freedman, a toxicologist at the University of Louisville. “This is critical to our drinking water, our infrastructure, the health and safety of our people”. But the company did say in the statement it was the “largest provider of emergency response services” to the EPA and is a “prime contractor” in seven of the EPA’s 10 regions. Liff says her agency is monitoring the water quality, but “right now we don’t have any cause for concern”.

Later on the same show, Mr. Trump said that the spill would probably “kill everything” in the affected waters, and that he would likely fire an EPA administrator under such circumstances.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy apologized Tuesday for the spill and said, “I don’t have a complete understanding of anything that went on in there. We want to make sure that all that data is quality controlled, that we put it in a context that people can understand”. Not just of what’s floating in her well water, but of how little she’s heard from the EPA. The EPA first said 1 million gallons had rushed out.

The ditches are being flushed of sediment left behind by the 3 million gallon spill that contained heavy metals. The New Mexico Environment Department has also been testing. But Martinez said she’s focused on what happened in Colorado.

But the Gold King Mine is not the only mine that is leaking. The spill turned much of the Animas River orange in color.

Begaye told TIME on Wednesday that EPA officials had said that it would take “decades” for a full clean up of the San Juan river, and Navajo populations living along the river may have to live in uncertainty until then.

McCarthy also met with Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye and other tribal officials Thursday and said the agency remains committed to assisting the tribe. The Navajo Nation is attempting to negotiate modified terms of compensation with the EPA.

EPA officials say the immediate danger from the spill has diminished as the polluted waters have dissipated.

The attorneys general for Colorado, Utah and New Mexico said they might sue the federal government individually or collectively, though Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said, “It is too early to know if litigation is necessary or appropriate”.

Can a state or individuals sue the EPA?