The Science, Space and Technology Committee has now formally requested the first congressional hearing over the Colorado mine spill, with its chairman, Lamar Smith, saying that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who have accepted full responsibility, “has an obligation to be forthcoming about what went wrong.” The committee has asked that the EPA’s administrator, Gina McCarthy, attends and provides testimony at the hearing, which has been scheduled for September 9.
On August 5, a group of EPA contractors accidentally released over 3 million gallons of toxic sludge from an abandoned mine, which subsequently flowed into Colorado’s Animas River. The levels of arsenic and lead found in the contaminated water are, respectively, 300 and 3,500 times more than what can be considered safe, and was later found to have flowed into the San Juan River in New Mexico. Even though the Animas River has since returned to pre-accident levels, Lamar Smith stated that “weeks after the spill, families and businesses who depend on the Animas River continue to deal with uncertainty and limited information.”
Furthermore, the Science, Space and Technology Committee are only the first such group to request a hearing on the matter – there will be many, many more in the months to come. If you are concerned that the EPA appears to be doing the exact opposite of protecting our environment, please Like & Share this post.
