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!!

 

[fowledup]

You bet your butt...I would make sure I stopped getting that same illegal ticket!!!!!' That's the problem I'm trying to illustrate....everyone keeps saying it's getting worse and worse....something must be done....then deep breath in and upon exhale comes out" you can't do anything about it they will just fight you into the ground"
Even with gobs of case law and written rights on paper that the industry uses daily we still have people spreading the same rhetoric and propaganda....the sky falls you catch it in a bucket and then run around trying to splash it on people (not you just sayin)
It is most difficult to get miners to stand together because they make it so easy to cut each other down.
They are blaming this spill on the miners of the past...even though they have the names of the people who physically created the problem.....I'm not trying to win anything against anyone here...neither is Barry.Im simply trying to say don't listen to unfounded hype and point it out everytime.....and please please don't spread nonsense!!!!!!!! Reading comments from people who have never even been to a mill site let alone spent hours and hours underground....gets really interesting...and down right frustrating sometimes.
But please keep the convo going....and deal with different opinions and views.......I am not trying to one up anyone that's for sure......

WHEN I'M RIGHT I WILL BE QUITE CONTENT SMUGLY RELISHING IT TO MYSELF......IT HAPPENS A LOT

I don't smugly relish being right, it just pizzes me off. I'm tired of being right against the "it could always be worse" or the "well at least we can still _____" crowd. No matter what the tactics- beg and plead, common sense, sky is falling, etc. Nothing seems to get bad enough where folks will get motivated or involved in preserving their rights. Neither does being right get any of what we lost back, does it? As to people and their experience and comments- yep 95% of the people here have no dependancy on the mining trades at all. And if it all goes south they will move on to they're next hobby. Some of the folks who "go off"on here from time to time are the ones who've already lost their buisnesses, livelihoods, or retirement income plans- the sky has fallen on them. You do work for and with Bazooka ? If SB637 comes to full fruition, ask Todd if he's concerned about what percentage of Bazookas buisness would the loss of California sales represent? All in all I believe we are saying and want much of the same things. Any new news on the Animas spill today, anybody?

 

[Goldwasher]

I'm sorry fowledup..I didn't mean to get you riled I'm not speaking only to you. I'm not an it could be worse kinda guy I happen to know what is fully legal and want everyone to know it and spread it and stand up for it.
As far as a sales issue with the senate bill no we don't and it's not because were in the dark about placer mining in California....basically when a small time guy who doesn't even meet the cwa minimums and or is on federal property and wants to gripe and give themselves all kinds reasons not to dig I just shrug...and say ok but,.....ah nevermind.

Even now and this will be like the eight time I've posed the challenge...... Call them call the waterboard tell them you want to run a powersluice...your gonna get transferred a couple times you'll have to actually guide them...by saying things like " I have a claim so I have riparian rights..so, per your regs. I don't need a diversion permit..."Oh ok "you'll get.."but we still may want a notice of diversion...maybe.... you say "well, Its for a beneficial use and I'm only running a 150 gpm pump at 80% throttle for like two hour periods four to six hours a day...four days a week..maybe five....with the occasional longer day so like what tops 500,000 gallons a month"...... (dude on phone is still trying to figure out what a power sluice is and reconcile it with the small number you just gave)
"here let me take your info and I'm gonna give you a number of waste discharge"...
You call it they don't transfer you...theres actually three numbers kind of the other guys shotgun approach...
You go through the same thing with the next guy...explaining your op while he quietlly waits to tell you that he doesn't quite know where to put you...Especially when you start throwing numbers around and the fact that your on federal land in the middle of nowhere and and your not creating a point source discharge....there is no ready made process or application for these in stream mining activities.... so they don't even know what to tell you..when you all hang up with each other after your told they will look into it....your thoughts will be the same...". I hope that dude never calls me back!"

When we talk about not digging in the shop its because of lack of rain not amount of regulations...and as far as sales we're not worried about it...I am opposed to the bill I have been to the capitol..I've read it and its revisions...It doesn't say you will need a permit to pan or sluice...don't help spread wrong info...they hope you will believe!

 

[Goldwasher]

and on a lighter note heres the current events.....The real culprit in Animas River spill - CNN.com
Earthworks is an org. that has been trying for a while to get support for changing the mining act..
Current relevant politics..Ben Carson makes Animas River spill 2016 campaign topic

 

[mytimetoshine]

Man what's with all the mining law threads and posts lately? Maybe we need a separate sub forum. I for one do this for fun and exercise. I want to see positive posts and I want to see gold. Theres too much talking and not enough doing.

I get that to some miners these things are very important ,and there lively hood in some cases but isnt the gold prospecting forum supposed to be about prospecting? I like to keep up on the laws and the ongoing legal battles but it's like every thread in the gold prospecting sub forum is legal mumbo jumbo. I think a sub forum for this stuff is the way to go.

Let's get some gold!

Now my 2 cents. Your really bad mouthing Clay Digging and mylandmatters? A FREE website to help you prospect is pretty nice. I for one am thankful to have access to it and find it extremely useful. I would add that for me it is a little hard to use. But I'm no computer wiz by any means and that's and understatement.

*The mylandmatters comment is from another thread in the gold prospecting forum. Unrelated to my other complaint.

 

[Goldwasher]

This is a thread about a "supposed" "huge" environmental disaster. Historic mines and mining are being blamed rather than the people who actually did it.....some people mentioned that it is just the way it is...because of media and politics.....and I disagree give reasons for prospectors to educate themselves remain vigilant and make sure that they themselves actually exercise their right to prospect......and now were being criticized for talking about it too much
..... and sometime in the near future..someone here is going to post a thread along the lines of "our rights are being taken"...."overreach'....or "environmentalist hypocrisy"

I apologize for doing exactly what these forums are for........you guys just keep on selling yourselves short and putting up your own obstacles.......and make no mistake..
when our season kicks in i'll be out on the claim on a very regular basis exercising my rights and not worrying for a second about citations......and from now on I'll just let you guys spread propaganda...hype and just plain unfounded info!!!! have fun with it sorry to annoy you guys and waste your time!!

 

[2cmorau]

all i gotta say , sure like how i am dredging right now, in the open for all to see here in Crazyfornia, on the NF Yuba River along the hwy 49
my plume from the dredge is only about .000001 % of the plume in Colorado
a lot of citations are proscuted because the most plead guilty, get only public service, probation
GW, can ya post a link

 

[Goldwasher]

Link to what

 

[2cmorau]

yesterday,

 

[Goldwasher]

There are in fact dozens of people dredging in numerous areas right now...probably quadruple the amount powersluicing.....and what like less than ten in court or waiting for a citation to expire....they sure are coming down hard aren't they

 

[fowledup]

Man what's with all the mining law threads and posts lately? Maybe we need a separate sub forum. I for one do this for fun and exercise. I want to see positive posts and I want to see gold. Theres too much talking and not enough doing. We have asked for one before, I think the owners are concerned it would be a free for all melee and a moderating nightmare.

I get that to some miners these things are very important ,and there lively hood in some cases but isnt the gold prospecting forum supposed to be about prospecting? I like to keep up on the laws and the ongoing legal battles but it's like every thread in the gold prospecting sub forum is legal mumbo jumbo. I think a sub forum for this stuff is the way to go. I agree but right now there is more legal action against us than mining going on. And right now, especially in California we are at a real turning point for the future of prospecting and mining in it's simpliest form.

Let's get some gold!

Now my 2 cents. Your really bad mouthing Clay Digging and mylandmatters? A FREE website to help you prospect is pretty nice. I for one am thankful to have access to it and find it extremely useful. I would add that for me it is a little hard to use. But I'm no computer wiz by any means and that's and understatement.

*The mylandmatters comment is from another thread in the gold prospecting forum. Unrelated to my other complaint.Then please don't bring this comment to this thread, as not one of us has said anything bad about Barry. We all have the upmost respect and have all benefited from what he brings. As I said I believe we all want the same things and our frustration and differences in tactics gets the better of us.

 

[2cmorau]

“One wonders, if this accident had occurred at the hands of a private business, or even an individual property owner, would the EPA be as forgiving as they have been of themselves? I think not,” Carson said in a statement after the visit.Denver-based ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal advocacy organization, criticized Carson for politicizing the spill. well said

then the twisted folks
“Ben Carson is just the latest and most obvious example of the right wing shamelessly politicizing the Animas River mine water spill,” said Amy Runyon-Harms, the organization’s executive director in a statement. “Carson’s campaign trip to Durango is a distraction that the people working to clean up the Animas River spill, and to prevent future mine waste disasters, do not need. Carson is in Durango to grandstand and misrepresent the EPA’s work cleaning up not just Silverton’s polluting mines, but environmental disasters across the nation caused by irresponsible private industry.”

 

[2cmorau]

yuup in other staes in full view, not here in crazyfornia
and them that have, what is going on with those up on the klamath, get there dredges back or parts of,

There are in fact dozens of people dredging in numerous areas right now...probably quadruple the amount powersluicing.....and what like less than ten in court or waiting for a citation to expire....they sure are coming down hard aren't they

 

[2cmorau]

Gravel, get yourself a dredge your invited to my claim, i will hold the camera

 

[fowledup]

There are in fact dozens of people dredging in numerous areas right now...probably quadruple the amount powersluicing.....and what like less than ten in court or waiting for a citation to expire....they sure are coming down hard aren't they

.....and what 3100 and change who would be but won't or can't risk breaking the law to do so! Come on! I'm out, carry on

 

[Clay Diggins]

Boy Howdy!

You folks sure have dealt with the perpetrators of that Animas fiasco! I'm sure Steve Way, Paula Schmittdiel, Liz Fagen and Cynthia Peterson are just shaking in their boots after that last California dredging video.

If you don't kill each other first I'm sure the EPA nonsense on the Animas will be exposed sometime in your grand children's lifetime.

Whoops! Am I on the wrong thread?

Heavy Sludge

 

[fowledup]

My apologies for letting my passion suck me in again, I would like to see Treasure Hunter wipe out everything from post #136 on. Good luck to the folks in Colorado and New Mexico appears as tho you now have your own windmills to attack. I sincerely hope you have better results holding these folks accountable for their actions than we have had out here.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

fowledup, not likely to happen. I mean that the EPA is held accountable; maybe with Ben Carson's comments it will help hold attention on the EPA, but still not likely to happen. Maybe in a year and a half, but not now. It is sad that the EPA forces a mine owner to allow them to do whatever they wish and then they mess it up so tragically. Given the 4 bureaucrats running it, whom we know who they are due to Clay Diggins, we should not be surprised. No mining engineers, etc, just bureaucrats, what can you expect? But still they should all be held personably accountable.

 

[fowledup]

Claims Process and Standard Form 95 for Damage, Injury or Death as a Result of Gold King Mine Release | Emergency Response to August 2015 Release from Gold King Mine | US EPA
Frequent Questions About Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Claims Processing | Emergency Response to August 2015 Release from Gold King Mine | US EPA

How much time do I have to file a claim?
You have two years from the date of the event to file a claim with EPA under the FTCA for injury or damage.

Pretty safe to say this will adversely effect miners by way of economic damage and further regulatory restriction within 2 years. Follow the Navajo Nations lead, file now and send them a message, apply further pressure! Learn from the mistakes of other states and get proactive -create the stories rather than being the ill treated brunt of them. Headline- "Ten thousand Colorado miners have filed claims for future speculative economic damages as a result of the disastrous EPA caused Animas river spill!"

 

[fowledup]

"EPA brings it's own relevance into doubt
http://watchdog.org/234578/epa-relevance-doubt-disaster/"

 

[nh.nugget]

Now that you guy's got that off your chest what has the EPA done about all the sediment that I saw a tv reporter dancing in or the businesses that depend on the river for their livelyhood? I'm on the east coast and seems out here it kinda' got lost in the wild fires the west is dealing with. Are they accually cleaning anything? or helping any of the businesses? Or more realisticly hoping it will all wash away. US MINERS WILL CARRY ON WE'RE A TUFF BUNCH, WE'RE THE KIDS YOUR MOTHER WARNED YOU ABOUT!