WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Senators blamed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for deteriorating abandoned mines in Western US states for the 3 million gallon toxic spill into Colorado’s Animas river in August.
"No one from the EPA attempted to contact me until days after the spill," Colorado Senator Cory Garnder said on Wednesday during a hearing with the US Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee. "Upon first learning of the spill, I attempted to speak with the administrator, but was told she was unavailable."
On August 5, the EPA accidentally spilled three million gallons of toxic mine waste from the Gold King Mine containing lead and arsenic, into a tributary of the Animus River, which joins the San Juan River to the Colorado River.
Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico said what happened at the Gold King Mine was "part of a much, much bigger problem," and not only the fault of the EPA.
"Abandoned mines in the West are a ticking time bomb slowly leaking hazardous waste into our streams and rivers," Udall warned. "The mine owners that left this mess are no longer around. The EPA is not in the mining business, it’s in the cleanup business."
The Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970 to maintain and enforce national standards in environmental laws across the United States.
