The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general is expanding its investigation into the agency’s culpability in August’s mine disaster, which sent 3 million gallons of toxic sludge into the waterways of three states.
The agency’s Office of the Inspector General said Thursday that it sent a memo Nov. 4 to its Region 8 office and the head of water cleanup in Washington, advising them that the inspector general is taking additional action in its investigation into the toxic wastewater spill at the Gold King Mine in Colorado.
The Office of the Inspector General said due to new information that has come to light, and a number of new requests from Congress, it is expanding the scope of its investigation, the memo reads. It said new information provided in a report by the Department of Interior last month was key in its decision, along with lawmakers’ requests.
The Interior report last month showed that the EPA was at fault for the spill because it did not deploy a drilling technique used at another nearby mine that would have told contractors if the risk of a blowout was imminent. EPA and its employed contractors did not deploy the technique, and the mine blowout dumped 3 million gallons of toxic sludge into the Animas River.
The inspector general is looking into “whether the EPA should have conducted pressure tests on the trapped water behind the mine pool before attempting to open the Gold King Mine, as was done at the Red and Bonita Mine in 2010.”
The inspector general also dropped a hint that it is looking into criminal and civil repercussions of the spill. “This planned work is separate from any criminal, civil and administrative matters the EPA OIG Office of Investigations may be conducting,” the memo reads.
It will look more in-depth into the actions EPA took after the spill as well as those it should have taken to prevent a blowout, examining a dozen new issues that have come up in the last two weeks.
Republicans have called for the EPA to take disciplinary actions against employees responsible for the spill. Democrats, who have been critical of the EPA’s response to the spill and delays in notifying the public, have focused on reform and legislation that would prevent a similar spill in the future.
The inspector general will examine how well the EPA informed local and state authorities of the spill, and if delayed action posed health risks to the public. The memo says it will examine “whether any reported delay in providing information to tribal, state and local agencies created any reported health risks or delayed emergency responses from those agencies.”
It also will look at how well the agency complied with its obligations under the law, and if contractor indemnification rules got in the way of its response to the spill.
And it will examine criticisms raised by lawmakers that the investigation by the Interior Department into the spill may have lacked the independence required to perform a unbiased review.
