Hearing convened on Colorado toxic spill

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the Space and Technology Committee chairman, recently convened the first congressional hearing on the actions that took place at the Gold King Mine in Colorado on Aug. 5.

The incident at the mine resulted in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spilling over 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas River.

“The EPA should be held accountable,” Smith said. “The same standards that the EPA applies to private companies should also apply to the EPA itself. The EPA’s negligence is especially inexcusable since there were known procedures that could have prevented the river’s pollution.”

On the day of the hearing, the committee heard from the EPA and its private contractor that was working on the mine at the time of the spill. Also speaking at the hearing were local officials and a representative from the Navajo Nation that was affected by the spill.

“This committee asked for information from the EPA almost a month ago and we have yet to receive all the documents that were requested,” Smith said. “Given the EPA’s consistent failure to provide information to this Committee and the American people, the EPA can be assured that our oversight efforts will continue.”

The spill impacted almost 300 miles of land through Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border. The wastewater from it contained lead, arsenic, thallium and other heavy metals.

The EPA has been taken to task for being slow to communicate about the spill with state and local officials, some of whom were not contacted until 24 hours after the incident happened.

EPA officials were also slow to provide the public and the House Science Committee with information about the accident.

Witnesses testifying at the hearing included Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator at the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response with the EPA; Dennis Greaney, president of the Environmental Restoration LLCT; Donald Benn, executive director of the Navajo National Environmental Protection Agency; Dean Bookie, the mayor of Durango, Colorado; and Mark Williamson, a geochemist at Geochemical Solutions LLC.