The owner of the Colorado mine where the EPA unintentionally caused millions of gallons of toxic orange wastewater to spill into the Animas River said this week that he tried to prevent the agency from entering his property but relented after being threatened with fines.
According to CBS Denver and Washington Times reports, Gold King Mine owner Todd Hennis said that he initially tried to kept federal officials off his land, telling them that he was afraid that their activity would lead to additional pollution similar to what had happened at another mine he owned. The EPA responded by threatening him with a daily $35,000 fine, he claims.
“When you are a small guy and you’re having a $35,000 a day fine accrue against you, you have to run up the white flag,” he told the media, adding, “If we hadn’t done that we, wouldn’t be here today,” with “here” being more than three million gallons of wastewater pouring into the Animas River and contaminating waterways in both New Mexico and Utah.
Source of the polluted water disputed; investigations looming
A former owner of the mine, Steve Fearn, told CBS Denver that the EPA did not properly take care of the leak. He believes that they should have set up a drill above the leak, then drilled into the tunnel. Hennis added that the water currently gushing from his mine may actually be coming from another nearby mine, the Sunnyside – claims that mine’s owner denies.
The mine water, he explained, used to flow through a treatment facility that has since been shut down. Hennis told reporters that he believed the blowout would not have happened if the facility was still in use, as treatment plant would have processed the water and there wouldn’t be any backup. Furthermore, he believes there is more water trapped within the mountain.
Further tests could reveal the wastewater’s origin. In the meantime, the Interior Department and the EPA’s Office of Inspector General are investigating the circumstances leading up to the accident, and at least two Congressional committees are expected to hold hearings on the incident.
Internal EPA documents released on Friday appear to indicate that the agency was aware of the risk of a potential “blowout” capable of releasing “large volumes” of wastewater laced with toxic metals at the mine. Included among those documents was a June 2014 work order planning for a partial cleanup of the mine, which had been inaccessible since 1995, according to reports.
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Pictured is the Animus River before the toxic spill (Credit: Thinkstock)
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