Colorado opens river to boating after mine spill

Heavy metals naturally occur in the Rocky Mountains; they get released when water enters mines, either through mining operations or from snow and rain.

The Animas River fully reopened to the public at noon on Friday after health officials said sediment sampling showed levels of contamination “below what would be a concern for human health”. For more information, go to its website.

Yellow sludge still poured Wednesday from its source at the mine, 11,300 feet high in the Rockies, where an EPA cleanup crew hastily built a series of four sedimentation ponds by moving small mounds of earth covered in plastic. The shipment is expected to arrive Friday. Many farmers spoke of the Navajo’s spiritual connection to the land.

The organization, Partnership With Native Americans, is planning to deliver 20 pallets of water to Monument Valley, Mexican Hat and Halchita in the Utah portion of the reservation on Monday. A chemical reaction ensues, creating sulfuric acid that dissolves heavy metals into the water, creating a toxic mess.

Efforts to clean out irrigation ditches in Colorado along the Animas river Thursday accidently released a plume of the mustard-yellow muck.

That work started Wednesday evening just after the state allowed Durango to take Animas River water back into its water treatment plant.

But the stage was set by decades of neglect and the near-absence of any requirements that mining companies take responsibility for preventing harm to people and aquatic life after they close their mines.

The EPA failed to notify the tribe right away, but has since apologized and has spent $500,000 to haul water to the communities. However, it’s not known how much danger remains from other heavy metals, such as lead, that are trapped in the river bed.

Trump also said the spill shows hypocrisy on the Obama administration’s part, since the EPA punishes business owners such as Trump for minor violations.

Water flows down Cement Creek just below the site of the blowout at the Gold King mine which triggered a major spill of toxic wastewater, outside Silverton, Colo., Thursday, August 13, 2015.

Attorneys general from Colorado, New Mexico and Utah vowed to ensure citizens and cities are compensated, even if the full impact isn’t understood for many years.

The contamination was declared a disaster emergency by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who toured the river Tuesday. Critics of the EPA are pointing to a letter by geologist Dave Taylor, published a week before the toxic spill, warning residents to protect themselves from the EPA and predicting a similar disaster in the same area purposely caused by the controversial agency.

So when I heard the news of the breach at Gold King Mine that sent massive quantities – ultimately some 3 million gallons – of drainage laced with toxic metals into the river, my heart seized up and my mind raced ahead. Navajo leaders this week claimed that EPA officials were trying to make Navajos sign waivers of claims for damages spill.

President Russell Begaye says doing so means Navajos waive any future claim for injuries.

Navajo farmers were nervously waiting for someone to announce that it’s OK to irrigate their crops again. “I am absolutely, deeply sorry that this ever happened”, she said.

Of the abandoned mines in the U.S., more than 48,000 had been inventoried through the BLM’s Abandoned Mine Lands program, which began after new federal laws focused on environmental protection in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

“The GOP presidential hopeful said the incident in Colorado that turned the Animas River bright orange further proves his point that the EPA’s authorities should be put in the hands of state and local governments”. At first the agency reported that about 1 million gallons had been spilled but within days the estimate was ratcheted up to 3 million gallons.

“Those are some of the longer-term issues that affect humans as well as wildlife,” New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn said.