“We believe it is critical that she see firsthand the extent of the damage and the need for substantial cleanup efforts”, they said.
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On Sunday night, EPA regional director Shaun McGrath told a town hall meeting in Colorado that the EPA would “hold ourselves to the same standards that we would anyone that would have created this situation”. We wanted to go up there as close as we could to the source. But our people have faced disaster before, and as a nation, we’ll work together and do the best we can.
“Washington County Water Conservancy District does not anticipate any interruptions to water service in Washington County as a result of the San Juan River contamination caused by the Gold King Mine spill in Colorado”, WCWCD officials said in a press release Tuesday.
The Navajo Nation and New Mexico have both declared states of emergency five days after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spilled wastewater from an old mine into the Animas River, turning it bright orange, the Albuquerque Journal reported Monday. “As far as the dirty water, people are being cautious but no one is in panic mode”.
These cases may be occurring because some members of the Navajo Nation don’t use the most common technology to communicate, or in some cases, speak native languages instead of English, Yazzie said.
The August. 5 spill released lead, arsenic, cadmium and other unsafe contaminants from the former Gold King Mine site into a creek that flows into the Animas River. Two-thirds of the San Juan River crosses Navajo land before reaching Lake Powell. “This is a huge issue”. “This river, the San Juan, is our lifeline, not only in a spiritual sense but also it’s an economic base that sustains the people that live along the river”.
EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said the agency continues to send water to labs to be analyzed.
Utah officials said Wednesday that weekend tests showed the presence of metals in the state’s river water, but the plume has since assimilated into the river water and lost its distinctive yellow color.
Nobody told Begaye that he won’t be hearing from the Obama administration. But Yazzie said it’s not just about the money.
McCarthy said the EPA is taking responsibility and working to clean it up. “It pains me to no end to see this happening”.
But experts said a long-term concern was the deposit of heavy metals from the spill that had settled into river sediments, where they can be churned up and unleash a new wave of pollution when storms hit or rivers run at flood stage.
The wastewater has then washed into the Animas River and into San Jan River in northwestern New Mexico.
“We are doubly committed to getting the solutions that make this community feel safe and comfortable in your homes and on the farms”, Curry said. This is on top of the $500,000 in state emergency funds that NMED received on Friday.
Still, residents have been advised to avoid drinking or bathing in water drawn from wells in the vicinity. Officials have blocked farmers from irrigating crops with river water and have ordered thousands of well owners to have their water tested. The attorneys general plan a public announcement in the afternoon. “She said the period of time those concentrations remain in one area is short”.
Coffman said she already has been in contact with Balderas and Reyes over the phone.
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She and other officials have repeatedly apologized for the spill, which was caused accidentally when EPA contractors moved soil that was holding back a tailings pond from the gold mine that was abandoned decades ago. The EPA made it a Superfund site, too, planning to keep acid spills from Butte Valley waterways.
