In the policy world, seeking and achieving a federal designation of any kind is typically an endurance exercise. There are many ducks to arrange, beginning with local support and building on it through regional and state buy-in, followed by securing interest and advocacy from the federal entity in question. This endeavor often takes years or longer, but the circumstances surrounding the Gold King Mine spill last August produced an expedited timeline for federal action under the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority Listing – known more commonly as Superfund.
It has been just seven months since an EPA crew assessing the Gold King Mine and the mineral- and metal-rich water it contained, unleashed a 3 million gallon spill that garnered immediate national attention. Since then, the town of Silverton and San Juan County have signaled their desire to fix this long-simmering problem that affects downstream communities in several states and Indian lands. Both entities voted unanimously in March to request that Gov. John Hickenlooper ask the EPA to apply a Superfund listing to the Gold King Mine and its neighbors that drain contaminated water into Cement Creek and the Animas River. The EPA this week did so, opening a 60-day comment period in which the public can and ought to weigh in on how the designation is shaped and implemented. This timeline was relative warp speed, despite the decades-long problem it intends to address.
There are many parties to commend for the speedy process that moved the Gold King Mine and its surroundings from a disaster site to one on the road to permanent mitigation. Primary among them is the Silverton and San Juan County community that worked through its long-standing resistance to a Superfund designation to recognize its merits in addressing what is – as evidenced by last August’s spill – a regional problem. Once the community signed off on the plan to install a permanent water-treatment system and other mitigation measures, the remaining elements fell into place at astonishing speed, given the many layers of local, state and federal involvement.
The next critical step is to secure funding for the clean-up effort so that the Superfund listing has meaning beyond the label. That will involve continued cooperation in Washington, D.C., where many in Congress are enduringly unimpressed with the EPA in general, and its handling of the Gold King spill in particular. That should not be used to hamper the EPA’s efforts at remediation, nor be used to punish the agency – and by extension, the Silverton and San Juan County community – by limiting resources available for addressing the problem.
Further, the area’s delegates to Congress should be equally supportive of their constituents, as has been the case with both Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Denver, and Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, has been less enthusiastic about a Superfund listing, despite his constituents’ support. In a release sent Thursday, Tipton lamented the forthcoming listing, saying, “I continue to urge caution on moving down the Superfund path and believe there are more effective ways to address mine cleanup without bringing the stigma of a Superfund site down on the community of Silverton.”
For decades, none of these “more effective ways” has emerged as viable. It is long past time to argue about the notion. Superfund is appropriate for Bonita Peak, and the EPA was right to move quickly in listing the site.
