Concerns remain about mine spillage in Western rivers

The thick orange sludge that filled the Animas River early in August has faded, but local concerns about the water’s safety heading toward to the Pacific Ocean have not.

The Environmental Protec­tion Agency’s Office of Inspector General is investigating the cause of and the agency’s response to the release of approximately 3 million gallons of toxic water that spilled from a mine in Colorado where EPA contractors were working.

On Aug. 5, the sludge, contain ing arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium, plus iron oxide for coloring, made the water resemble concentrated orange juice that filled the river banks starting in San Juan County, Colo. Immediately down­stream, La Plata County, Colo. closed the rivers to fishers and water sports enthusiasts and got the city of Durango to close its water intake. Commissioner Julie Westendorff took in the sight from a helicopter and was aghast.

“You couldn’t see any clear wa­ter,” she said. “It looked like apricot preserves, baby food… nothing you wanted your river to resemble. You got an immediate reminder of how much you paid to natural science and chemistry.”

Those images appeared in the news across the country and got extra attention in New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and California — where the plume would be headed next as it traveled down the Animas River to the San Juan River and the Colorado River. But four days after the plume arrived, it was gone, and La Plata County, and its kin along the river, started shifting their focus to the river’s long-term health.

“This has given me a more analytical look at the river than I had ever taken before,” Westendorff said. “I’d never looked at it in all the ways that people and animals use it. We have no idea how these toxins are going to affect fish, birds, beavers, deer. We’ll have to wait and see.”

The absence of the plume was of little solace.

“What we’re worried about isn’t the coloring — the toxic elements of the plume are invisible, and it will take a lot of testing over time to determine when the water is safe,” she said. “We have good looking water right now, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Levels for the chemicals causing the concern have largely returned to pre-plume levels, and on Aug. 17, New Mexico announced that drink­ing water systems and recreation activities along the Animas and San Juan rivers could resume, but that may not assuage fears about their dormancy in the river’s sedi­ment. In New Mexico’s San Juan County, Executive Kim Carpenter is watching the weather to see what happens.

“There’s a lot of anxiety about a thunderstorm kicking up the sediment and releasing settled toxins back into the river,” he said. “We’re worried about the runoff after the next thaw in the spring. Things like that show you what kind of long-term approach we have to take in regard to the river.”

Economic concerns from the fallout focus on agriculture, recre­ation and tourism.

“It’s one of our lifebloods,” Car­penter said. “It’s a natural resource; it’s a draw for recreation and we have 60,000 head of cattle near that river. We have farmers who aren’t able to irrigate their land.”

It was Westendorff ’s first emer­gency incident, and she was quick to notice that training and virtual drills were no replacement for ex­perience in that situation.

“It was important to see what my role was and how important it was to stick to that role,” she said. “The best thing we could do was be as transparent as possible.”

Her role was to communicate, fielding questions and trying to main­tain the public’s confidence in the county government, even when the county wasn’t sure about the EPA.

“They were supposed to be fix­ing the mine leakage, not making it worse,” she said. “They don’t have any credibility around here. I have no idea if they engaged in negligence or not, but it’s hard for people in La Plata County to trust what they say. Right now, our ex­pectation is that the EPA will cover the costs associated with long-term water monitoring.”

The EPA reported that while excavating the Gold King Mine during a remediation assessment, the loose material gave way, open­ing a mine tunnel and spilling the water, initially estimated to be 1 million gallons, stored behind the collapsed material into a tributary of the Animas River. The U.S. Geological Survey updated the estimate twofold.

Downstream, counties like Coconino in Arizona, are taking cues from their state agencies determining whether the water is safe.

EPA aerial and ground recon­naissance found there is no leading edge of contamination visible in downstream sections of the San Juan River or Lake Powell, but thorough waster testing has not confirmed that the toxic materials have not continued to travel down the river.

The spill has been galling for LaPlata County because it had grown away from the industrial area of 40 years ago, when a smelter on the hillside polluted the river.

“There was a spill back in 1972 and people who were around then didn’t have the same horrified reaction because they’ve seen it before,” Westendorff said. “Now, there’s more of an expectation the water quality is higher.”

Westendorff said despite the environmental and economic stakes, the national media cover­age was probably exaggerated, but it could focus Congress and the EPA’s attention on successfully cleaning up other defunct mines along the river.