Community Chat

[dancingwoman]

If you go to durangoherald.com there is the most recent news on the spill...DW

[Kachina624]

@dancingwoman. My dad was raised in the San Luis Valley and I've heard him and his lifelong friend, Paul, talk about the Animas.  Paul retired to Durango.  Apparently the mines have been leaking junk into the river for the last 100 years and local fishermen in the know will not eat fish from the Animas.  Paul did all of his fishing in the Pine River.

I've been up to the headwater of the Animas River at the old Animas Forks ghost town several times.  The river there is just a stream you can step over but it is milky white and they say it's from the arsenic in the water.  There was a gold mill at that location where they used all sorts of heavy metals to process the ore.

Sad that these old mines are still causing us such grief.

[PatsyCline]

We watched this on the news, that over head shot of the orange water is awful!:-(

[newziesuzie]

Thanks for the source @dancingwoman. This is 

looking worse and worse as the days go by.

[Kachina624]

Here's a picture of Animas Forks.  The old mill is in the background.  As you can see, it's almost above timberline, probably well over 10,000 ft and you need a jeep or high 4WD vehicle to get there.  It's a scary trip not for the faint of heart.

[biancardi]

Question for those who know these mines better than I do - did the US government own these mines originally?  Or were they privately owned and the companies just "left" them for others to deal with?

If the latter, I commend the government for trying to clean up other companies messes.  This is why we need the EPA (yes, they made a huge mistake here and I hope they can get it under control).  Without the EPA, who would have handled the toxic sludge that was in those mines, if the company just abandoned them or sold them to the US government after they were used up?

[hckynutjohn]

EPA Goofs

That department makes as much sense to me as the DOE and the IRS. They know how to go after small business owners breaking  a little law, but what price will anyone pay for this dangerous disaster?

And those sitting in a room far, far away know how to better educate than the ones in the classrooms and their people in their own communities? Please!!

Same as the others, get moved up to a higher paying job.

[Puzzle Piece]

The EPA likes to police so many, NOW who is going to go after them for this disaster?

[Kachina624]

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@biancardi wrote:

Question for those who know these mines better than I do - did the US government own these mines originally?  Or were they privately owned and the companies just "left" them for others to deal with?

If the latter, I commend the government for trying to clean up other companies messes.  This is why we need the EPA (yes, they made a huge mistake here and I hope they can get it under control).  Without the EPA, who would have handled the toxic sludge that was in those mines, if the company just abandoned them or sold them to the US government after they were used up?

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The land has always been US Forest Service land but during the gold rush in 1860s and 1870s, miners filed claims on land that gave them the right to all the mineral deposits.  Of course back in those days there was no awareness of the need to protect the environment.  They just walked away when the ore ran out.

Some of the mines are still periodically operational.  I think there's one at Creede (Creede Silver Days in Oct. on Q), and I've been by another that was in operation.

The woman who's head of the EPA was in town and supposedly answered questions except they don't know the answer to the questions people are asking.  What a bunch of idiots!

[biancardi]

thank you @Kachina624 for answering my question.  So, it seems to me that EPA did mess up big time for the toxic sludge created by other companies (believe me, they probably did know that it was poison back then, they just didn't care)

I think that the EPA is still needed - they aren't perfect and they did create a mess, and perhaps the head of the EPA doesn't know that area as well as the locals do - but no one else is stepping up to clean it.

after all, the kalamazoo river is still suffering after 5 years from Enbridge dumped millions of gallons of tar sands and they haven't done much to clean that up - and the tax payers have to pay for it too..