EPA proposes Superfund designation; awards funds
Contaminated wastewater snakes its way down the Animas River on Aug. 6, 2015. (Photo courtesy KOB-TV - Channel 4 and Las Platas County Sheriff's Office.)
FARMINGTON, N.M.
Representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tried to quell fears Thursday during a meeting held to discuss a proposed Superfund designation for the area that includes Colorado’s Gold King Mine.
The meeting came 10 months after EPA crews accidentally breached the mine, sending 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater downstream and polluting the Animas and San Juan rivers. Hundreds of Navajo farmers and ranchers were affected by the August 2015 spill, which shut down river access and irrigation canals just as the harvest season was beginning.
A Superfund designation, if granted, would help clean up the Bonita Peak Mining District, where the Gold King Mine is located. It would also provide federal dollars to ensure similar spills don’t happen in the future.
The preliminary Superfund boundaries contain about 300 abandoned mines, 48 of which were identified as potential sources of contamination. According to the EPA’s proposal, those sites are discharging 5.4 million gallons of wastewater every day, or nearly twice the amount released by the Gold King Mine spill.
The proposal is still in its introductory stages, but the site was placed on the Federal Register in April and it will be considered for the National Priorities List later this fall.
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