House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith blasted the Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday for ignoring warnings of a toxic blowout that it caused last month at a Colorado mine, which he says shows “negligence.”
“Why were the warnings ignored?” the Texas Republican asked the EPA several times at a hearing he conducted Wednesday on the spill. Smith was referring to a report issued a year earlier by EPA contractor Environmental Restoration that warned of a toxic “blowout” at the Gold King Mine in Colorado.
On Aug. 5, the contractor, at the direction of the EPA, was opening the abandoned mine when a massive wastewater spill occurred.
When it was over, the toxic spill of acidic heavy metals caused a yellow plume of sludge to pollute the waterways of three states. States are still trying to determine the scope of the cleanup.
“Why did you proceed” after reading the report, Smith asked an EPA senior official, saying it shows that the agency proceeded in a “negligent fashion.”
“Something went terribly wrong” after the EPA “did not heed the dangers … or the spill would have not occurred,” Smith said. He asked if anyone has been held accountable.
EPA Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus told Smith that “we hold ourselves accountable” for the accident, but is waiting for a review by the Department of Interior before saying anything else.
Smith responded, “that’s all well and good … but the EPA doesn’t admit any negligence” or take responsibility
Dennis Greaney, president of Environmental Restoration, said he could not say for sure when Smith asked, “do you think the spill was inevitable?”
Committee Democrats rebuked the GOP leadership for holding the hearing that makes unfair accusations against the EPA.
Ranking Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas called the EPA an “environmental firefighter” on the scene to respond to an abandoned mines in the region that have been leaking wastewater for years.
Others responded to a Republican comparison of the EPA blowout with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill at the BP Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform.
The Deepwater Horizon spill resulted in the deaths of rig workers from an explosion that was later shown to have resulted from maintenance cutbacks.
