EPA WITHHOLDING DOCUMENTS FROM CONGRESS
|| By FITSNEWS || Remember the “Orange River Conspiracy?”
We’re referring to the belief that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deliberately polluted the Animas River in Colorado earlier this month in an effort to route additional federal dollars to the area.
What’s the latest on this story? According to Watchdog.org, the EPA is currently “blocking (the) release of documents related to the Gold King mine disaster, which poured deadly chemicals into the largest source of drinking water in the West.”
The documents are being withheld in advance of a scheduled hearing on September 9 called by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
Such refusal to cooperate is apparently nothing new for this rogue bureaucracy – which is currently in the midst of an effort to regulate every puddle in America.
“Time and again, the EPA has failed to be cooperative, forthright, or reasonable in its dealings with my Committee and with Congress in general,” U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas told Watchdog. “The agency embodies all the dysfunction, misguided priorities, and government overreach that angers so many Americans. The EPA seems to have a clear disregard for the very people it is intended to serve.”
Indeed …
Of interest? Redacted documents already released by the EPA (under pressure from reporters) indicate the agency knew there was a risk for precisely the sort of disaster which befell the Animas River.
Oh, and then there’s the scandal (and cover-up) regarding the “replacement water” the agency gave the Navajo Nation, which was severely impacted by the disaster.
Yeah …
And they wonder why we don’t trust them?
59 comments
Meanwhile, the Republican party unveils its plan for avoiding inevitable, dangerous leaks from abandoned mines: bury your head in the sand.
Hey, that’s also our health care reform idea for when we repeal Obamacare! Ignore that tumor, it’ll go away! It’ll go six feet under to be exact, with you!
“Pray the tumor away!”
That’s safer than letting the EPA deal with it.
Chances are it would have leaked on its own. Did the EPA speed it up? Sure. Would it have happened anyways on its own? I’m sure it would have. It already was leaking to some degree, so it actually was a problem.
Not so. The EPA was aware of the dangers of their “forced entry” technique and ignored them. The contractors plan was to pump and treat the water from inside the mine. It was the idiotic heavy handed approach that the EPA ordered that caused this “disaster”. http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/22/us/animas-river-colorado-epa-mine-spill/
Okay, and I said the EPA fucked up. I also said the mine was already actively leaking and could very well have leaked on its own given enough time. Nothing in that link changes that.
Minor leaks, major spill… had the EPA allowed the contractor to do it the right way, no issue.
Yes, if the EPA had been more competent, the chances of a blowout would have been dramatically reduced.
Without the EPA itself, the chances of a blowout on its own would have been 100% given enough time.
Who do you think paid the contractor?
Minor leaks…major disaster because the EPA wouldn’t listen to the experts they hired.
Is your knowledge on this like your climate IQ? You an expert on this topic too?
My knowledge on this particular issue comes from my ability to read. Where did your ignorance come from?
Tang?
That might explain GrandTango’s reduced mental state.
Poon?
Tang!
Shifty would beg for some traction with that gal — smokin’ hot..!!
Rightwing BS, ignore.
Yep, Obama went out there and personally directed EPA to poison the river and blame it on the poor innocent mining companies. Who dumped waste that was harmless to anyone, who did not touch it or drink water from anywhere near it.
The private sector was taking care of this problem on its own, when the EPA stepped in. And by taking care, I mean making sure any damage could not be connected to them.
As you can see, the private sector didn’t need to take care of this problem. That’s what the EPA is for. Thank God for the EPA.
The EPA was there because the toxic waste was leeching into the surrounding land. The wing nuts will believe anything, as long as Obama is at fault..
The free market solution is to not build on the contaminated land.
What happens when all the land is contaminated?
Shut up!
“As you can see, the private sector didn’t need to take care of this problem.”
Of course they didn’t. If we are talking about a century old mine, all the people that could be held accountable are dead and the company dissolved. Eventually the contaminants can leak out, sure, but that’s not their problem.
If the consequences of your decision aren’t felt within your lifetime, fuck everybody, do what you want!
Burrowed into the state’s craggy mountains are thousands of mines like Gold King, built during the mining bonanza that marked Colorado’s beginnings. Though most of them have been closed for decades, they continue to make their presence known through the acids that slowly leach — and occasionally violently burst — into the water around them.
“The great news is that modern mining does not allow the release of these waters,” Elizabeth Holley, assistant professor of mining engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, told the Denver Post. “The bad news is we owe our statehood to mining prior to any environmental regulations.”
Oh my, look how touchy everyone is! Give thanks for the EPA and you all go ape shit.
I agree with George Carlin, the answer to the reason why we are here is plastic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
Ginny Brannon, director of the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety, told the Denver Post that until 1977, Colorado had few laws requiring mining companies to deal with the wastewater they created.
“Folks could go out and do what they want and walk away from the sites, and this is one of them,” she said.
The EPA caused the spill so that the US government could collect all the chemicals for the chemtrails. Alex Jones will tell you!
This is all Bush’s fault.
I always knew you would come along.
We should back to the utopia before the creation of the EPA and comprehensive environmental and pollution laws. I mean industry has always been very careful to spend all the monies required to properly deal with pollution in a responsible manner – right?
Back to burning rivers!
Hell, there might be something to that- they do controlled burns in certain land areas from time to time.
:)
I used to live in Cleveland btw, and it’s amazing how quickly the lake recovered after it literally caught on fire two decades prior.
The EPA was Nixon’s creation,when ‘conservatives’ believed in conservation ..
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The EPA is like unions, just because they did something good in society in the past doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t address the corruption within it in the present.
That’s how you liberals do everything? You fuck it up, then DEMAND we all pay more money to fix it.
Look at education. You’ve had a stranglehold on it for decades, and all you ever do is whine for more money, despite the horrible job you do.
Obama pissed away $90 Billion on Solar energy, and it’s nowhere near being efficient or smart, yet all you do is demand we piss away more money to feed your greed and fat-cts professors, who shill the Global Warming Bullshit you want to tax us to death to pay for.
Dubya blew 11 trillion on Iraq, you seem ok with that.
11 trillion! Really, I had no idea he’d blown that much!
Didn’t you get a cut?
Honestly, I did, something like three hundred thousand over the three years I lost over there. If give every dime back plus interred to have the time back based on how it turned out.
I think it was more like 1.1 trillion, but what is a decimal point when you are criticizing a great president. LOL
You can disregard anything the Federal Government and a lot of other governments in America will do and they can not be fired and you have no recourse.
Ever heard of the Saluda river? It’s fucked beyond repair.What a legacy to leave to your children…Daddy? Why does the river smell like shit?
I can remember the Reedy just downstream from Conestee.
And those awful moonshiners that pumped their mash into the Reedy between Hilltop and Lebanon. Course , some of the fattest water snakes in South Carolina were loving it!
YOU BETCHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can see the Ware Place from my house!
DHEC’s Bureau of Water is less competent than EPA by a long shot.
Correct,and many houses have been built along the Saluda since the last time it flooded.The next time it floods,those houses will be under water
They had a hearing last night on the renewal of Carolina Water Service and DHEC claimed they were unable to do anything about CWS. The permit needs to be denied and the customers CWS “serves” should be forced to hook up to the compliant regional system as CWS was ordered to do in 1995. I paddle the Broad, Saluda, Congaree about 50 days a year and this shit has to stop.
The enemies of the Saluda River are as much those several DHEC officials up front as the polluter company itself. But nothing will ever happen to them for their negligence.
It’s past time something was done about CWS and the city’s system needs to be addressed next.
The one point Fits fails to mention in this so called expose’ is that the company involved in the breech has already admitted liability.
Fits, stick with Benghazi….
The EPA has admitted culpability, the first honorable thing they’ve done in this disaster. Of course they then started hiding documents and obfuscating. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/us/durango-colorado-mine-spill-environmental-protection-agency.html?_r=0
Retraction…the EPA (well contractors hired by the EPA) were responsible for the direct discharge of polluted water into the river.
What I meant to say was that the preceding years of dicking around and vacillating between responsibility and clean up efforts lies with the mine operator and legislators…not the EPA.
I think the article I posted indicated that the EPA had known about this problem for thirty years. The EPA needs to go away, they suck at just about everything they do. They are constantly overreaching to get their hand in the pies of things that are not federal issues – I’m speaking here primarily of wetlands management. Had they focused on their intended core functions, we wouldn’t have issues like this. The mine in question was last worked in 1920. Had they followed the guidance of the experts they hired, none of this would have happened. The EPA is not qualified to work on mines, oddly enough, we have an agency that is called the U.S. Bureau of Mines that apparently wasn’t even consulted.
You da man,Colonel!
I had the opportunity to talk to an retired environmental engineer the other day and mentioned the EPA screwup, I was shocked when he said it was the mining companies fault for creating ittobegin with, I couldn’t believe it, must’ve retired from the government…no mention the EPA has been in charge of it for 20 years,,,,
If an individual or company had done this there would be Hell to pay. But since it is the EPA, they just say “oops” and it all goes away. The EPA started out to be a good thing, but like every govt. agency , they “expanded” their power. Becoming the worst agency in govt.
Actually no, that is not right. The EPA has already sent out forms for damage claims without being required to do so by a court. If you can document you have been damaged by this spill the EPA will pay your damages. I am betting you would have had to chase the CEO of that mining company through the gates of hell to get them to do that.
Why do you guys just make crap up. I think they ought to make the Mining Company pay at least half the cost.
You know, women just need to incorporate and declare their vagina’s to be gold mines. Then Republicans wouldn’t care what they put down there, who put it down there, what grew after they put it down there, and what they did with what was down there; no matter how many people were killed in the process.
“And they wonder why we don’t trust them?”
I often wonder why anyone believes the declarations of DHEC’s environmental people. We never see any evidence or proof, just declarations. They easily could be liars or else simply incompetent but they never offer proof that they are not. Just a “trust us”. Not me, I’m afraid.