October 09, 2015 12:29 PM UTC

Republican EPA Bashers Jump The Gun Over "New Disaster"

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Spill downgraded even further for the record:

#CrestedButte #EPA spill actually 500-600 gallons from vacuum truck, changed from 2,000 #copolitics

— Peter Marcus (@MediaMarcus) October 9, 2015

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As the Durango Herald’s Peter Marcus reports, Republican usual-suspect haters on everything the Environmental Protection Agency has ever said or done went on a tear yesterday, after word spread of another spill of minewater from an old Colorado mine in the presence of an EPA crew:

News Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency was responsible for another mine spill, this time near Crested Butte, came with a quick political punch…

The Standard Mine spill included gray-colored sediment from a holding pond at the mine. The contractor was de-watering the pond containing un-mineralized sediment and water from the lower mine adit.

The water and sediment was treated to a pH of 7, which is considered normal. The treated water from the pond was being discharged into Elk Creek. But a vacuum truck pumping water from the pond accidentally dipped into the gray-colored sediment, which led to the discharge into Elk Creek.

The Denver Post’s Bruce Finley reports, Republicans are so…damn…mad:

“They told us things were going to be different. Now we have a spill. … We’ve apparently got a real challenge with the EPA, not only with notification but their accountability and their ability to adequately execute these types of cleanup projects,” [Rep. Scott] Tipton said. “They’ve got resources. They’re the ones in charge of the program. And they’ve had two spills in my district alone. Is there a better way to approach this?”

…Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, who threatened legal action after the Gold King disaster, said she’ll do all she can to protect state resources and hold the EPA responsible.

“Once again the Environmental Protection Agency has apparently endangered Colorado’s waterways while drilling at an abandoned mine,” Coffman said. “I continue to be concerned that the EPA wants to zealously regulate Colorado’s resources but refuses to be accountable for their own activities when they negatively impact our state.”

There’s just one problem: this wasn’t a disaster. The scale and impact of Wednesday’s incident is apparently nothing like the huge release of contaminated minewater that occurred August 5th above Silverton. But you wouldn’t know that if all you had to go on was the over-the-top reaction from GOP politicians with a pre-existing axe to grind with the EPA. Peter Marcus continues:

[T]he Standard Mine spill, which occurred at a Superfund site, is greatly different than the Aug. 5 Gold King Mine spill, in which 5 million gallons of orange, contaminated water poured into the Animas River in Silverton. [Pols emphasis]

The Standard Mine incident, which occurred Wednesday, was limited to less than 2,000 gallons of water. Also, the spill near Crested Butte was not the result of excavation work at the mine, as was the case with Gold King. Gold King also never had a Superfund listing, which offers restoration dollars to blighted areas…

The EPA was heavily criticized in the wake of Gold King for poor communication by delaying notifications to local governments. But Crested Butte Town Manager Todd Crossett said the EPA immediately notified state and local officials after the latest incident.

According to local officials in Crested Butte, there’s no real worry about damage to the town’s drinking water supplies from this incident. The Standard Mine near Crested Butte has been on the EPA’s National Priorities List for a decade, and a great deal of work has already been done to mitigate the flow of contaminated water from this area. The wastewater that spilled from the retention pond in this incident had already been treated.

We’re pleased to see that in most of the press coverage of this latest incident, reporters have not taken the GOP’s sensationalist bait. Republican contrived hand-wringing gets quoted, along with the facts that make it look silly. That’s a big improvement over coverage in the wake of the Silverton spill, which was chock full of alarmism and opportunistic blame games from Republican politicos–not to mention a few truly wacky conspiracy theories.

Far better to be honest with people, even if it’s not as exciting a story.