“I don’t think the state of Utah should bear that cost”, he said. “What that means is yet to be seen”.
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Reyes said earlier this month and reiterated Wednesday that he is considering legal action against the EPA, depending on both its responsibility for the spill and its response to it.
And as pledged by EPA chief Gina McCarthy, there will also be an outside review, led by the U.S. Department of the Interior, aimed at assessing the factors that led to the Gold King Mine spill.
“Including these questions in an [inspector general] report, along with a full investigation of the Gold King Mine accident, will help prevent future spills of this magnitude and ensure that recovery for tribal, state and local economies is expeditiously put on the best path forward”, the senators said.
EPA and contract workers accidentally unleashed 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater as they inspected the idled mine.
Lawmakers from both parties have criticized the EPA’s response as slow and overly cautious.
In its latest email release on the mine spill, the EPA said that based on “surface water sample results in New Mexico, surface water concentrations are trending toward pre-event conditions”.
Reyes said the EPA showed him and other government officials around the mine site, but the agency was wary about releasing specific information about the spill. John McCain, R-Ariz., also released statements Tuesday afternoon thanking the Senate Indian Affairs Committee for agreeing to hold an oversight hearing on the impact of the mine spill.
The spill occurred at the mine near Silverton, Colorado, around 10:30 a.m. on August 5.
McCarthy traveled to Colorado and New Mexico last week. Instead, the agency’s actions created more pollution, they said.
Water from city municipal water systems remains safe to drink.
There are about 500,000 abandoned mines nationwide.
Utah lawmakers are calling for an independent investigation into incident. He argued a private company would be facing stiff penalties if it had caused a similar disaster.
Officials in Colorado and New Mexico closed the Animas River for a little more than a week.
Several members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have already reacted to the Animas River mine spill.
Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) royally screwed over everyone that uses the Animas River. That’s five times the federal drinking water standard for humans. Experts have also noted it could take decades to fully clean up the toxic metals that have settled in the San Juan River running through Navajo Nation.
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“It’s not as though the oil and gas producers were dumping their waste into the San Juan River”, he told the Journal.
