Animas River, Colorado - HUGE Environmental Disaster!!!

[jcazgoldchaser]

If you frequent the waters of the Animas, an EPA accident has released 1 million gallons of mining waste into the waterway.
Animas River fouled by 1 million gallons of contaminated mine water - The Denver Post

The La Plata County Sheriff's Office has closed the river from the San Juan County line – including Durango – to New Mexico. Authorities say they will re-evaluate the closure once the EPA tests are confirmed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/us/wastewater-spill-in-colorado-turns-a-river-yellow.html?_r=0
The EPA spilled 1 million gallons of waste water - Business Insider

Be safe out there!!

 

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[Clay Diggins]

It's just rusty water with a little zinc. A million gallons is three acres 1 foot deep in water.

I think the EPA needs to fine itself. They waited a day to inform the downstream communities.

Bad EPA - where's that dunce cap?

Heavy Pans

 

[NeoTokyo]

They will probably figure a way out to blame the owners of the mine being cleaned up, or if not owned by anyone try to blame it on someone else.

 

[IMPDLN]

Sounds like a superfund super screw up to me. They make a big deal out of this reservoir needing superfund cleanup from a small amount of water trickling down stream. Now they go and knock a hole in the dam and send the entire reservoir downstream like a flood. And the EPA's ignorant response is like ....oops, sorry. If anybody else did something like this they would make a huge deal about how much wildlife is going to be destroyed and how the water quality will never be the same......for ever. To me this helps to define just how worthless the EPA has become. What a huge joke. The funny thing is they will get away with it...........Not so funny for folks that live downstream. Just a million gallons pretty much all at once, which from the appearance seems like a huge underestimate to me. However they want to call dredgers polluters. But wait......what are they doing to clean it up? Not a darn thing. They are just going to shrug their shoulders and let whatever happens happen.

In my opinion the EPA needs to be held accountable for this situation just like any other corporation or individual would be had this disaster been caused by anybody other than the EPA. Might be time to pull the plug and flush the EPA. Dennis

 

[fishnfacts]

It's just rusty water with a little zinc. A million gallons is three acres 1 foot deep in water.

I think the EPA needs to fine itself. They waited a day to inform the downstream communities.

Bad EPA - where's that dunce cap?

Heavy Pans

Not to mention that they will be the ones who give the all clear, Lets see, If we say it is safe after dumping all this mining waste in it how can we keep the miners out. Or if we say it is screwed up we will get a big fine and be called names by the miners for years. Oh wait , we already call them names.

 

[goldenIrishman]

And here all this time I thought that dams and drainage were under the Army Corp of Engineers! WHAT was the EPA thinking when they punched a hole in the dam of the retaining pond? Who ever gave the order to do any work on that dam should be in BIG trouble unless they just happen to be a qualified engineer with a background in dam construction.

This story was pointed out to me last night just before I hit the sack so I've had a bit of time to think this one over. This situation raises more than one question in my mind...

1. Why was the EPA messing with the dam in the first place when they're not qualified to do so?

2. Why did they wait so long before getting the word out on the spill?

3. Why did the headlines for the article I read make it sound at first that miners were responsible for the accident?

4. What is the EPA going to do to help the people down stream from this spill that depend on the water in that river for their daily existence? Maybe call in FEMA? We learned how effective they were after Katrina...

This is going to require everyone to keep tabs on this story as it develops. They're already trying to cover up the incompetence of the EPA in this fiasco. This is a golden opportunity for the mining community to show just how worthless all this governmental regulation has become. I mean come on folks... EPA is supposed to be protecting the people from this kind of stuff and here they go and cause a major spill. Even if it is proven that there is nothing really bad in the water, the spill NEVER should have happened in the first place. Yet another example of an agency overstepping their authority, getting themselves into trouble and doing their damnedest to cover up their screw up.

 

[kayakpat]

Sad event, Everybody ready to jump on the EPA because while working on a Hundred year old mine, that like many mines, they have to be monitored and maintained forever to keep contaminates from leaching out of mines. We had this problem in the east with orange rivers that were left for us taxpayers to clean up and maintain and monitor. We have much cleaner water thanks to the EPA, it is just a familar problem with mining.

 

[Adventure_Time]

Need to blow this up to a national level and paint a bad image, much deserved I might add as you can see, of the EPA. Give the environuts a taste of their own crap.

 

[triple d]

As far as I know. Every thing made on earth. At one time was all natural. If some company mixes things up to make it unsafe. Don"t blame the miners. Im willing to bet anything coming out of that mine. Is all natural. Iron, sulfur and mercury so on.Its all natural just in high concentration. There leaching out of the ground all the time. Just don"t get whats so bad. About some thing that"s natural. Floods are bad they usually spread unnatural contaminates. Even if it has nothing to do with mining. Its another natural event. Blame the company"s that make the contaminates.

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Whoops I made a mistake -- started a new thread on this -- guess I should read before I post.

 

[KevinInColorado]

As far as I know. Every thing made on earth. At one time was all natural. If some company mixes things up to make it unsafe. Don"t blame the miners. Im willing to bet anything coming out of that mine. Is all natural. Iron, sulfur and mercury so on.Its all natural just in high concentration. There leaching out of the ground all the time. Just don"t get whats so bad. About some thing that"s natural. Floods are bad they usually spread unnatural contaminates. Even if it has nothing to do with mining. Its another natural event. Blame the company"s that make the contaminates.

There is no "company that made the contaminates"...this is the natural result of ground water flowing thru the rock in this area...due to high mineralization. The issue here is the sudden, large release all at once by the EPA. They screwed up.

 

[Hard Prospector]

Incompetent action and screw-ups by government regulators can only result in one thing............Promotions for all involved

 

[IMPDLN]

At the current rate of 550gpm, this is way more than a million gallons. That's 33,000gph or 792,000 gallons per 24 hour period. However the estimated flow Wednesday was 740gpm. So by my calculations that's more like 3.5 million gallons, and increasing as I type this. And why is it still flowing? Why haven't they done anything to slow or try to stop the flow like plugging the hole they opened? Sounds like the EPA is doing an environmental impact study in the worst possible way they could. Dennis

 

[russau]

are you sure this is just rusty water and NOT a river of gold?

 

[goldenIrishman]

Last news report I saw said that the State of New Mexico will be suing the EPA for damages. The contamination is supposed to be hitting Lake Powell at about 5 A.M. on Monday morning. The EPA has been downplaying this right from the start so you know it's going to be bad for them in so many ways it isn't funny. We can only hope at this point that it will shine a big spotlight on agencies overstepping their authority and causing more harm.

 

[Clay Diggins]

This wasn't a mine tailings spill. It was directly due to an experiment the EPA was conducting on already stabilized mine drainage from another mine.

"Somewhat ironically, the Gold King mine was not the object of the cleanup. The agency had planned to plug a mine just below it, the Red and Bonita Mine, with the goal of reducing acid runoff from that mine.

Since mines are interconnected, however, and a plug in one can lead to more water flowing out the other, the agency planned to “remove the blockage and reconstruct the portal at the Gold King Mine in order to best observe possible changes in discharge caused by the installation of Red and Bonita Mine bulkhead.”

You can blame Steve, Paula, Liz and Cynthia for being so stupid as to think if they put a plug in one mine they could back up the drainage to the mine above and see what happened. (notice that not one mining engineer was involved on this project) There was no dam or tailings pond involved. They didn't even have a plan for dealing with the unknown amount of water that would obviously flow out of the newly flooded mine. That's why they can't just repair a dam. There never was a dam.

This gets even stoopider because now the only way to get control of the situation is to pull the plug on the lower mine and let all that backed up water flood the creek below - creating an even bigger flood of mine water. I'm guessing that's the next stoopid step in their plan.

The mine has been flowing 300gpm ever since the EPA took over. They have been dumping huge quantities of lye and alum into the water to counteract the natural acid waters of the caldera at Silverton. All the fish have died in the creek and for 20 miles downstream in the Animas river. Nice job!

Here are the intentionally porous treatment ponds with a view from the mine showing the mine drainage flowing past. This was the closest they came to making a "dam" for their experiment.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Looks like a kiddie pool - no dam at all.

This is why it should be the job of experienced mining engineers to deal with mine drainage. Real miners know better than to "do fun experiments" with mine hydraulics.

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

Looking even closer these mines weren't even a pollution source since they closed. It wasn't until the EPA and Colorado Water Board got involved in the closing of the American Tunnel and Sunnyside mines that the pollution levels in this area went way up.

Several other mines in the Cement Creek basin also have draining adits. The discharge from Red and Bonita Mine, Gold King (Level 7) Mine, and Mogul Mine all experienced significant increases in flow following the plugging of the Sunnyside Gold Mine workings, including the American Tunnel, that occurred between 1998 and 2002. The Red and Bonita Mine was essentially dry during the period when the Sunnyside Gold Mine operated with an estimated flow of five gpm. Flow from the American Tunnel was reported to be approximately 1,700 gpm when it was treated, prior to the final bulkhead installation. Active water treatment also was discontinued. Water quality in the Animas River has degraded progressively since that time.

Unlike the polluted rivers in the Eastern States it looks like the most highly polluted region in Colorado is directly due to the actions of the EPA and the Colorado Water Board.

Heavy Pans

 

[Mad Machinist]

Sad event, Everybody ready to jump on the EPA because while working on a Hundred year old mine, that like many mines, they have to be monitored and maintained forever to keep contaminates from leaching out of mines. We had this problem in the east with orange rivers that were left for us taxpayers to clean up and maintain and monitor. We have much cleaner water thanks to the EPA, it is just a familar problem with mining.

This is what happens when you have a bunch of know nothings trying to make themselves look good while trying to demonize something or someone else. If they were actually trying to do something about the problem, they would have had mining engineers involved along with experienced miners. But we can't have miners being painted in a positive light now can we?

Just another created problem by the EPA in order to make something they don't like look bad. If this was any other entity or person, they would already be in jailed being prepared to be crucified over this. Instead, it will all probably be declared a "superfund" site and the EPA will be expanded in order to clean it up taking years and million, if not billions, of dollars to do just the "environmental studies" on how the cleanup will effect the area and he wildlife population. And of course, the eco freaks will get involved with their lawsuits in order to get their cut and nothing will get done.

The EPA did a lot of good at one time. Now they are just another useless gov't bureau that just get in the way and over complicates things.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Thanks for the additional information Clay. Knowing the who, what, when, where and why of a situation like this always a good thing.

I have to say that there are a lot of hard questions that need to be asked about exactly what led up to this situation and the lack of action on the part of the EPA right after the spill. It seems to me that there were way too many people in command positions on this project that were NOT qualified to be leading such a project. As a result of poor project staffing on the part of the EPA, as well as poor decisions by those unqualified on-site managers, there is now a major mess that the tax payers are going to be stuck paying for yet again. (Why am I NOT surprised? ) The people of this country deserve better. With the ongoing attitude of throwing money at problems by the government, they could at least TRY to do their best to make sure that the people who are footing the bill are getting the best results for their money. I know... wishful thinking...

 

[Ponchosportal]

I'm thinking all of those providing the opinion against EPA are right. We should get rid of the EPA ASAP and then we won't have to worry about them doing this type of thing ever again.

They don't do anything to help anyone and they just cause problems.

I bet they just did this to keep their jobs anyway.

Poncho