Is Animas River spill leaching into presidential race?
The massive spill of toxic waste water from the Gold King Mine in southern Colorado is leaching into the 2016 presidential race.
On Wednesday, two Republican presidential hopefuls 鈥� Marco Rubio and Donald Trump 鈥� said the spill shows the Environmental Protection Agency is incompetent. The mishap occurred when an EPA-led cleanup crew accidentally unleashed 3 million gallons of water containing such pollutants as arsenic, lead, and iron.
The wastewater flowed into the Animas River in Colorado, turning it orange, and then into the San Juan River in New Mexico.
Farmers and native American tribes now won鈥檛 be able to use the river water, said Senator Rubio (R) of Florida, in an appearance on Hugh Hewitt鈥檚 radio show. He said the accident showed the agency was both hapless and arrogant.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the crisis they鈥檝e created, it鈥檚 their response to it that belies arrogance and this notion that 鈥榶eah, we鈥檙e sorry it happened, but we don鈥檛 need to give you any more information, because we鈥檙e the EPA and you can鈥檛 do anything to us,' 鈥� said Rubio.
Later on the same show, Mr. Trump said that the spill would probably 鈥渒ill everything鈥� in the affected waters, and that he would likely fire an EPA administrator under such circumstances.
鈥淭his is all the more example why EPA, we should do it locally. We shouldn鈥檛 be doing it from Washington,鈥� Trump said.
EPA officials say the immediate danger from the spill has diminished as the polluted waters have dissipated. Measurements show acidity and heavy metal levels near the source of the spill have returned to pre-spill levels.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy traveled to the region on Thursday to investigate the spill aftermath. She said she was 鈥渉eartbroken鈥� by the spill and said that cleanup field work at other mines would stop while the agency studies last week鈥檚 disaster.
Ms. McCarthy said a 鈥渟ister federal agency鈥� or some other 鈥渆xternal entity鈥� would lead this probe.
It鈥檚 unlikely the agency鈥檚 effort will head off other investigations, however. House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio has said Congress will conduct its own look, or looks, at the incident.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will conduct a hearing on the leak in September, for one. It鈥檚 going to ask whether precautions were taken when the EPA-led team arrived on-site, and whether the personnel involved were well-trained.
鈥淭hese are foundational questions that EPA will need to address so we can ensure this doesn鈥檛 happen again,鈥� said Sen. James Inhofe (R) of Oklahoma, who chairs the聽panel.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has also demanded an inspector general investigation into the incident.
