Sens. John McCain and John Barrasso asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday to determine whether EPA officials “committed a crime” in connection with the August disaster at the Gold King Mine in Silverton, Colo.
“We ask that you review the circumstances surrounding the Gold King Mine spill to determine specifically whether evidence warrants the prosecution of any EPA manager, employee or contractor for the criminal violation of federal environmental law, criminal negligence, obstruction or any other crime,” wrote McCain, R-Ariz., and Barrasso, R-Wyo., in a letter to Lynch.
Barrasso heads the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and McCain is a member of the panel.
The lawmakers wrote in the letter that as a result of the toxic chemicals that spilled from the mine and into the Animas River, 1,500 farms in the Navajo Nation were damaged.
McCain and Barrasso said a review of the disaster found that the EPA failed to conduct “important hydrostatic pressure testing” before attempting to re-open an old mine.
“While the Navajo Nation and other parties will continue to rely on the Environmental Protection Agency for remediation until it is clear there is no longer a public health risk, they — indeed, all Americans — will also depend on the U.S. Justice Department to ensure that full accountability is obtained in this matter so that nothing like this tragedy ever happens again,” McCain and Barrasso wrote.
