EPA Releases Millions of Gallons of Toxic Waste Into Colorado River

This is your fault.

From his backyard in Durango, Colorado, Tom Bartles can see the Animas River, which was stained an unnatural orange.

The Environmental Protection Agency accidentally released millions of gallons of pollutants into the water last week, turning the typically blue water to the color of mustard.

"Everybody in town knew it was coming. It was hard to wake up in the morning and see an orange river," Bartles told CNN. "Many of the locals in this region are probably going to experience a certain level of mourning."

By Tuesday, the plume of heavy metals had largely moved on and the river looked clear. A tourist probably wouldn't notice anything was off, but a local would know it's not quite right, Bartles said.

And for him, the biggest concern wasn't the immediate threat anyway; it's the spill's potential long-term and cumulative impact.

"This is a major, major problem," said Jonathan Freedman, a toxicologist at the University of Louisville.

Typically it takes years or even decades for health problems from metals to develop.

However, preliminary tests show that the Animas River in Durango "doesn't appear" to present a health risk, Colorado's top health official said Tuesday.

Government officials are notorious frank when it comes to informing the public about the mistakes they've made and the people they've potentially harmed.

Oh, you know when I said it was your fault?

The Tea Party is called out in the cartoon by the Gadsden flag t-shirt.

See, they did it all.

Not the government's fault -- the Tea Party's!

Update: See Gateway Pundit for a letter to the editor written a week before the spill, telling them the spill was guaranteed -- so guaranteed, in fact, that he speculates that was the EPA's plan all along.

I'm curious to know if the mechanism he predicted was in fact the mechanism by which the toxic waste was spilled.

The Silverton Standard & Miner says Yes, that was a real letter, and it was published July 30. (First Item.)

posted by Ace at 05:13 PM

| Access Comments