Workers with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spilled roughly one million gallons of mine waste into a Colorado creek on Wednesday, turning the nearby Animas River bright orange and prompting criticism from environmental groups over the government’s lackluster response to the accident.
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EPA officials on Thursday confirmed that the leak was caused by its own employees, who had been using heavy machinery to investigate pollutants at the Gold King Mine, an abandoned site north of Silverton.
The agency said impacts on wildlife and the environment in the area would likely be minimal, in part due to the “longstanding” low water quality of the river. But the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) responded that such reasoning “offers no comfort to concerns about pollution impacts farther downstream.”
“Endangered species downstream of this spill are already afflicted by [the] same toxic compounds like mercury and selenium that may be in this waste,” said CBD’s Taylor McKinnon. “These species are hanging by a thread, and every new bit of toxic exposure makes a bad situation worse. EPA’s downplaying of potential impacts is troubling and raises deeper questions about the thoroughness of its mine-reclamation efforts.”
The Gold King Mine last operated more than a century ago, Colorado Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Todd Hartman told the Denver Post on Thursday. The wastewater that spilled into Cement Creek, which feeds the Animas River, reportedly contains zinc, iron, copper, and other heavy metals—relics of old-fashioned mines that went out of use over time, according to Durango utilities manager Steve Salka.
“The most important thing is what’s in it. I need to know,” Salka told the Post. “Back in the 1800s, things were used in mining that aren’t allowed anymore.”
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