topic Re: EPA Goofs in Community Chat

EPA Goofs

Kachina624 — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 22:37:13 GMT

The Enviromental Protection Agency was high in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado this week doing clean-up of a retention pond at the Gold King Mine, which operated off & on since the 1860's.

Something went wrong and they accidentally released one million gallons of waste into the Animas River. Now a river of opaque orange-yellow sludge containing heavy metals, cadmium and arsenic has reached Durango, Co., and Farmigton, NM. They are advising people to stay far away from it.

The Animas River empties into the San Juan River which empties into the Colorado River and will go to the irrigators in the San Joaquin Valley and your dinner plate. They haven't mentioned how dangerous it is by the time it terminates. In fact, there's been very little mention of it outside of Colorado and New Mexico. I heard one brief mention this morning on the Saturday edition of GMA.

Just thought maybe you'd want to know before you hit the salad bar again, and don't depend on San Joaquin kale to keep you healthy.

Re: EPA Goofs

Puzzle Piece — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 22:45:38 GMT

Thanks for the info. Very interesting and will look forward to seeing how this incident will be explained away.

Re: EPA Goofs

Q4u — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 22:47:57 GMT

This is more than a mistake, this is catastrophic and the EPA is responsible and needs to get ahead of this thing. Like always, the public is really never informed of these incidents like they should be. More than disappointed in the bumbling of yet another agency....

Re: EPA Goofs

YorkieonmyPillow — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 22:55:50 GMT

"Accidentally?"

A MILLION gallons? That's no accident.

Re: EPA Goofs

newziesuzie — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 23:12:08 GMT

This is HORRIBLE.

I disagree that it's not on the news though

we heard about it on our NPR station

and CNN and I just googled it and got

almost 1,000 articles from all over the

place not just local to the area. I hope

everybody gets their news from a lot of sources.

So anyway I agree what happens next is what we're

all watching for. What a disaster.

😔

Re: EPA Goofs

suzyQ3 — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 23:21:58 GMT

@YorkieonmyPillow wrote:
"Accidentally?"

A MILLION gallons? That's no accident.

Oh, no. That's awful. Where did you hear that this was intentionally caused? And can you let us know who's behind this disaster? So scary.

Re: EPA Goofs

Kachina624 — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 23:32:28 GMT

Here's what it looks like. I don't know who these idiots are, but I'd stay far away from that water. I'm glad to hear it's hit the news wires. I don't know that there's much that can be done about it now. Too much water to dam up or divert. Here's a news release from the EPA. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/D6426E2EF06F547885257E9B005C66F1

Re: EPA Goofs

millieshops — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 23:23:25 GMT

I saw this story on the national news last night, so if we weren't supposed to know, it's too late ---at least for those of us who still get our news the old-fashioned way.

And whatever station I was tuned to included not only the sensational details, but an interview with a non-government expert who explained his idea of how to deal with the problem. I felt just a bit better after I listened to him, but the gyge yellow strip if river certainly looked repugnant and I'm glad I wasn't planning to be in the arfea any time soon.

Re: EPA Goofs

foundinlv — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 00:09:30 GMT

Makes me very angry. Cracks open another bottle of Fiji Water

Re: EPA Goofs

luv-the-Q — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 00:25:36 GMT

The EPA and FDA are jokes. You cannot trust the government. They are in the business of creating jobs for themselves.

Re: EPA Goofs

Q4u — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 00:43:57 GMT

In some circles the EPA is referred to as "the Keystone Cops".... and that was from another gov agency....

I get my news from varied sources and first heard about it last night. I think that it HAD to be picked up because this was such a horrific "accident".... I don't believe it was an intentional malicious act, rather yet another bumbling misadventure ....

Re: EPA Goofs

Kachina624 — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 01:08:50 GMT

I feel certain it was an unfortunate accident. There was a community meeting today and people had many pertinent questions. The EPA had few answers. Many ranchers have cattle that drink from the river. I guess they'll be building fences this weekend.

Keystone cops sounds about right.

Re: EPA Goofs

esmeraldagooch — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 02:05:42 GMT

So will the head of the EPA be fired?

Re: EPA Goofs

MyGirlsMom — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 02:09:02 GMT

@esmeraldagooch wrote:
So will the head of the EPA be fired?

usa.gov

Re: EPA Goofs

liliblu — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 02:10:31 GMT

Why would the head of the EPA be fired? Unlike the oil companies and other big corporations that pollute our waters, the government t will do what they can to clean the water.

Re: EPA Goofs

Bird mama — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 02:11:58 GMT

Oh my God.

Re: EPA Goofs

Lila Belle — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 02:18:32 GMT

Speaking of Keystone... the pipeline, that is, this is a great example of why an accident such as one of this magnitude would be a disaster if the aquifer were polluted with nasty dirty oil going to China.

Re: EPA Goofs

YorkieonmyPillow — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 03:32:45 GMT

@suzyQ3 wrote:
@YorkieonmyPillow wrote:
"Accidentally?"

A MILLION gallons? That's no accident.
Oh, no. That's awful. Where did you hear that this was intentionally caused? And can you let us know who's behind this disaster? So scary.

It's in the title of the thread.

You're welcome!

Re: EPA Goofs

Kachina624 — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 23:46:14 GMT

Today the EPA is admitting the spill was 3 million gallons, not 1, and it's still leaking. I didn't mean to infer this was deliberate. It was accidental but negligence caused it. It took the EPA about 24 hours to notify the governors of the affected states that the spill had occurred.

Hundreds of people along the river who use well water have been advised not to use the water.

Re: EPA Goofs

dancingwoman — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 18:22:37 GMT

Well I live in Durango...there is talk that it wasn't an accident...First they said 1 million gallons..now its 3 million and its still leaking over 500 gallons a minute according to yesterdays paper...thats alot..our river today has cleared alot..DH and I walk it 4 miles every day...Friday it was like floating mustard...

We have become a haven for the homeless...and they live by the river..even though we are a tourist town the homeless are allowed to bath and sleep by the river right by the river walk..we see them bathing and washing their clothes everyday...so now they are contaminated with the metals that are floating in the river...

The fish and all wildlife that depend on the river are contaminated...the farmers can't use the river to irrigate..in the SW we depend on irrigation water..we don't get the rain like in other parts of the county...the river raft companies depend on the river...life revolves around water...

The EPA has fessed up..what else can they do..it happened and we all know they caused it...

There are alot of articles on the web about the mess....DW