 That's the sound of contaminated water spilling out of the Gold King mine in one of Colorado's most prominent environmental disasters. In summer 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency was working to divert water within the abandoned Gold King mine just north of Silverton. Contractors told the Environmental Protection Agency that accessing the mine could result in a blowout.
So the EPA's Steve Way postponed the job until the site could be further inspected. Then while Way was on vacation, his acting replacement Hays Griswold had the work resumed. On August 5th, a crew ruptured a rock and soil plug causing contaminated water to pour out of the Gold King mine. Three million gallons of wastewater containing among other pollutants, lead, iron, arsenic, and copper went rushing into nearby Cement Creek.
This caused the Animus River to become rapidly more acidic and forced the city of Durango, as well as La Plata County to close the river and cease pumping water for city use. The contaminated water eventually reached the Navajo Nation, which flanks the San Juan River in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
While the federal government provided trucker tanks with potable water for farmers, many crops had already dried up and died. In Shiprock, New Mexico, some native communities harbored such a distrust for the federal government that they refused to irrigate from the Animus River for another year after it had been cleared by officials
Directly after the accident, then Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, spoke with Denver 7 °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ about who could be held accountable for the ruin.
On-scene reporter: And we have been talking to people here the short time that we have been here, and they're angry about what happened. They're angry about the response. They also realize that this is a government project, and I think people wanna know, can the government, the federal government, be held accountable from a state government?
Coffman: It is possible, yes. Normally the EPA has some broad governmental immunity, but when they cause the harm, there are some legal avenues and some recourse, But, we're far ahead of that. We need to understand exactly what happened and what the short and long term impacts. I want to see people made whole.
According to and History Colorado, the EPA accepted responsibility, but Sunnyside Gold Corp, which owns the nearby Sunnyside mine, agreed to pay the state $1.6 million as part of a no-fault settlement. After a found a plug in the Sunnyside mine caused water to build up inside the Gold King mine.
The Navajo Nation also filed a against Sunnyside Gold Corp. Here's CBS Colorado with that report.
"Under the settlement, Sunnyside Gold Core will pay the Tribe $10 million. Last August, the state of Utah reached a settlement with the EPA to fund a Clean Water projects."
In February of this year, senators Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper introduced a bipartisan bill with Congressman Jeff Hurd called the. The bill is designed to help communities across the west affected by the disaster farmers. Outdoor recreation companies and families all depend on the animus river. And according to Senator Hickenlooper, many of them are still waiting for the help they need to recover. The EPA was able to partially compensate some claims, but existing laws constrained its ability to meet everybody's needs if passed.
The new legislation would give the EPA the authority and funding to further compensate outstanding claims. The La Plata County Board of County Commissioners and Durango City Council members have shared letters of support for the legislation. Here's La Plata County Commissioner Marsha Porter Norton speaking with Durango Local °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ.
"There's an entire group of, um, people financially impacted who were left out of previous settlements, and I think it is important that those people be paid. Now, I know there is a cap on this proposal. Um, there probably needs to be so people aren't, in some cases, may not get, I. Exactly what they feel they were, they're owed, but I hope it will be something."
The is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor and KDNK will continue to follow this story as it develops
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