DENVER – Democrats on Thursday appeared to have had enough of the congressional inquisitions into the Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of the Gold King Mine spill, calling the oversight a “farce.”
EPA chief Gina McCarthy sat before a congressional panel for the third time this week, making it her fourth such appearance after her agency inadvertently released about 3 million gallons of old mining sludge into the Animas River on Aug. 5. The event turned the river an orange color that initially tested for spikes in heavy metals.
Democrats tried to steer away from a Republican-led scolding of the EPA, pointing to larger systemic issues, including mining laws that date back to 1872 and a lack of adequate funding to address tens-of-thousands of inactive leaking mines across the nation. They touted a proposal that would allow the federal government to assess royalties and fees on hard-rock mining in order to pay for reclamation work, and pointed out that mine owners face no responsibility.
“Today’s hearing is to blame the EPA for the callous disregard of mining companies, not to be good stewards of our environment, and I think it’s a farce what we are conducting here with you,” said Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Mo., addressing McCarthy during the joint House Committee on Natural Resources and Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing.
Republicans, however, took the opportunity to repeatedly criticize McCarthy and her agency, accusing her of violating not only civil, but criminal statutes when it comes to water pollution and endangering wildlife.
The GOP was at odds with the EPA even before the Gold King Mine spill, frustrated with actions around regulating small bodies of water and carbon pollution.
But Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, said the oversight hearings are not an excuse to simply blast the EPA. He said the hearings offer a chance to ask questions and force accountability so future spills are prevented.
“One problem that we all recognize is if we don’t figure out exactly what happened, the problem could be replicated,” Tipton told The Durango Herald after the hearing.
He pointed out that several Republicans support separate legislation addressing leaking mines. The bill would allow for companies to independently work on reclamation without fear of facing liability. Even state water officials say they fear performing reclamation work on federal land because of the risk of being held liable for possible water contamination.
The GOP maintains that had it been a private company that erred, massive fines and penalties would have been assessed. The EPA has held none of its staff accountable, nor has it ended its contract with Environmental Restoration, LLC, the contractor working with the EPA on reclamation when a breach during excavation led to the disaster.
Rep. Bob Bishop, R-Utah, pointed to a 2014 EPA document that stated: “Conditions may exist that could result in a blow-out of the blockages and cause a release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters and sediment from inside the mine, which contain concentrated heavy metals.”
“Clearly, these documents demonstrate that in fact you did not only anticipate the possibility of a release, but also of a major blowout, and yet EPA conducted no consultations with Fish and Wildlife, as is required under the Endangered Species Act,” he said. “These activities are both criminal and civil penalties.”
McCarthy said there was no way to anticipate a blowout because the work being conducted at the Gold King Mine near Silverton was meant to prevent such an incident.
“The statement you’re reading indicates that we were worried about those conditions existing. We clearly stated it to the contractor so that there would be no actions taken that would have caused that release, but instead we were there to prevent that release,” McCarthy said.
She acknowledged that her agency could have done a better job at communication after the event, with downstream stakeholders not receiving notification until the day after. Southern Ute Indian Tribe Councilman Mike Olguin offered sworn testimony that the tribe’s chairman, Clement Frost, did not receive a personal call from McCarthy until last Monday.
