Did The EPA Intentionally Poison Animas River To Secure SuperFund Money?

Contaminated or not, governor Hickenlooper went down to the river and had a big gulp of it. If that was a smart thing to do, I don't know; however, we're talking politics here.

Source

The act sets up a battle between the governor and the EPA over when to recommend reopening the river. EPA officials have been at odds with the governor, going as far as to ask him to silence remarks on the health of the river and to stop pushing to reopen it. Hickenlooper, however, called the EPA’s concerns “nonsense” and pointed out that businesses are closed that rely on the river to drive operations, such as the rafting industry.

originally posted by: Daedal
Contaminated or not, governor Hickenlooper went down to the river and had a big gulp of it. If that was a smart thing to do, I don't know; however, we're talking politics here.

Source

The act sets up a battle between the governor and the EPA over when to recommend reopening the river. EPA officials have been at odds with the governor, going as far as to ask him to silence remarks on the health of the river and to stop pushing to reopen it. Hickenlooper, however, called the EPA’s concerns “nonsense” and pointed out that businesses are closed that rely on the river to drive operations, such as the rafting industry.

I don't this Hickenlooper guy but I think I can confidently state that he appears to stand behind what he says and he ain't yellow.

At least not yet.

a reply to: Flatfish
Yes, I agree the operator was probably a contractor. I disagree that a bulldozer operator has no education in hydrology. They know what happens when they doze the retaining wall of a containment pond. Anyone with two working brain cells knows. Hasn't everyone deconstructed a "gravy dam" in their mashed potatoes? It doesn't take any kind of degree to have that knowledge---just observation.
Having worked extensively with heavy equipment operators, I give them more credit for knowledge of how dirt/water interact than you seem to do. As you point out, he was probably doing as he was told to do. He likely assumed that the people giving him directions knew the consequences of their instructions. Maybe they did----and gave the instructions anyway as a way to get more money directed to this contractor or others they are in cahoots with on such contracts. To many folks these days the end justifies the means so they would see this as a win-win---their buddies get jobs for the next decade cleaning this up and the EPA gets a big budget boost for their "accident." Just forget about all the collateral damage downstream---it's just a bunch of farmers, Indians and other not-rich people. They probably don't even donate to the DNC!

The government wants to control all "navigable waterways" which includes your ditch in your back yard...nice to know they are doing such a good job.

originally posted by: diggindirt
They probably don't even donate to the DNC!

Looks like we finally got to the "real" heart of your beef.

You don't like the DNC and apparently, you think Democrats are the only ones supporting the mission and/or existence of the EPA.

Didn't Nixon create the EPA? Wasn't he a republican?

a reply to: Flatfish
I hold the same contempt for the DNC as I do for the RNC. I am a lapsed Democrat due to the sell-out I witnessed at the party level in the '80s.
I'm fully aware that Nixon signed the EPA legislation. I had lobbied long and hard to get such an agency in place. All us hippies celebrated that day! We didn't foresee the buy-out potential in what had been created! What can I say---we were young and idealistic---the ones writing the legislation saw things we'd never dreamed---they were greedy and cunning.
I've heard more than one person opine that the War on Drugs and the EPA creations were the opportunity for the parties to merge. The big wigs in both parties could agree on making money by investing in private prisons and spending whatever it took to "clean things up."

My cynicism comes not from not liking political parties but from witnessing what should have been an efficient means of holding corporate interests liable for their damages and getting the air and water cleaned-up turn into a total fluster cluck. The states' resources departments are doing the actual work of the EPA. If you want to find out how useless EPA field agents are just talk to some state employees in the same field.

This is very compelling evidence. I am on board, can we shine a light on this publicly somehow?

Let's say that they did it. Let's say that it somehow someway makes WAY more sense to focus on the evil old EPA instead of the scum who left this mess which would eventually HAVE TO BE cleaned up. . . so now what? What would you have be done here? NOT clean it up? NOT pay to have this mess sorted out? This was going to have to be dealt with eventually and we know that the company responsible was doing NOTHING to address it. We also know that the government was doing NOTHING to address it. So what would be the plan now? "Yell at" the EPA? Somehow fine them? NOT let them clean it up? Blame them instead of the company who raped the land for profit and left you and I holding the bag? What exactly is the end game here even if they did "do this on purpose," which I do not for one minute believe to be the case? And yeah, I love that pretty much no one on here knew ANYTHING about what a mess they were trying to deal with here FOR YEARS NOW but the minute you can scream at the mean ol' gubmint it's "game on." Jeebus. . .

The government is not worried about this spill because most of the water from this fiver is diverted to fulfill water agreements with the Ute First Nations. Much like the Canadian government has dealt with the mercury poisoning occurring at The Grassy Narrows First Nation in Northern Ontario.

a reply to: Beartracker16


Hay but the river is currently repairing itself.

The government is well known for creating problems so it can fix them. Global warming isn't real and they're already cashing in. Its a shame they couldn't just pretend the Animas River was contaminated and spent money cleaning it up, this time they actually polluted it.

originally posted by: Dutchowl
The government is well known for creating problems so it can fix them. Global warming isn't real and they're already cashing in. Its a shame they couldn't just pretend the Animas River was contaminated and spent money cleaning it up, this time they actually polluted it.

The World is getting warmer. This is a fact. If you want to say that we are not causing it or some such thing that's fine. But to say the globe is not getting warmer is utter idiocy at this point, sorry.

The EPA has been trying to cause a spill in this area since 2005.
townhall.com...
They want to use this to close mines around the US.

The environmental movement is running the EPA and want the US mine free by 2020.

In Calif there is less then 3 gold mines left operating full time and the government has been trying to fine them till they are forced to close.