Txdigest.com

Of the yellow river incident? Surely, this can still somehow be blamed on George W. Bush.

If anyone wants a great example of how biased the MSM is, just consider how this would be covered if a private company had done it while GWB was president. We would already be hearing about the fish with six heads, lowered life expectancy, environmental cataclysm, blah, blah blah because evil Capitalists and Republicans want to poison the water and destroy the planet, blah, blah, blah.

Instead, it's magically OK, because millions of gallons of heavy metals can just be absorbed with no problem. When Obama is president.

I've read about it but, you're right, no 24 hour coverage of how the EPA screwed up.

Open and transparent.

Managers at the Environmental Protection Agency were aware of the possible risk for a catastrophic “blowout” at an abandoned mine that could release “large volumes” of wastewater laced with toxic metals, according to internal documents released late Friday.

EPA released the documents following weeks of prodding from news organizations like The Associated Press. EPA and contract workers accidentally unleashed 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater on Aug. 5 as they inspected the idled Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.

Among the documents is a June 2014 work order for a planned cleanup that noted that the old mine had not been accessible since 1995, when the entrance partially collapsed. The plan appears to have been produced by Environmental Restoration, a private contractor working for EPA.

“This condition has likely caused impounding of water behind the collapse,” the report says. “ln addition, other collapses within the workings may have occurred creating additional water impounding conditions. Conditions may exist that could result in a blowout of the blockages and cause a release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters and sediment from inside the mine, which contain concentrated heavy metals.”

If the states sue the EPA (can anyone do that?) you know it won't come out of their budget...it'll come out of our pockets. The people who have been hurt by this will also have to contribute their tax dollars, too. Ironic isn't it? Anyone hear if someone (even one?) has been fired by the EPA?

That spill is one of many that has happened or will happen in the future from the tens of thousands of abandoned mining sites on public property. Not sure what coverage people missed, I read about in the paper, saw it on tv, don't listen to news radio so no idea if they covered it. I also didn't expect it to be the lead story for eons like Bush was when he destroyed New Orleans with his hurricane machine.

The path of toxic sludge went thru Indian lands, they might be able to go after the EPA, don't know what one would accomplish other than increasing the national debt.


If anyone should be chased down and billed for damages its the people who dug the mines and then walked away and left everyone else responsible for cleaning up their destructive mess.

John in Plano wrote:That spill is one of many that has happened or will happen in the future from the tens of thousands of abandoned mining sites on public property. Not sure what coverage people missed, I read about in the paper, saw it on tv, don't listen to news radio so no idea if they covered it. I also didn't expect it to be the lead story for eons like Bush was when he destroyed New Orleans with his hurricane machine.

The path of toxic sludge went thru Indian lands, they might be able to go after the EPA, don't know what one would accomplish other than increasing the national debt.

If anyone should be chased down and billed for damages its the people who dug the mines and then walked away and left everyone else responsible for cleaning up their destructive mess.

Yes, I saw it on TV a few times. The last one I saw said, "Oh, the EPA says the river is OK now." The point is not that it wasn't reported, the point is that everyone knows that the story would have been, "First, Bush destroyed New Orleans with his hurricane machine. Now, new evidence reveals that George W. Bush personally made the decision to release millions of gallons of toxic waste water into a key waterway, endangering the lives of not only people, but also the endangered blue squamous snail. Here is Peter So-and-So, reporting from the scene of devastation." (cut to Pete in waders, standing in the contaminated water. You can imagine the rest from there.

I have also seen one or two stories about homeless people since Obama became president. I saw one or two a day when both Bushes were president.

And nowhere do you hear reported that the EPA was established by executive order not a bill passed by the Congress.
By Richard Nixon.

planosteve wrote:And nowhere do you hear reported that the EPA was established by executive order not a bill passed by the Congress.
By Richard Nixon.

Yep

Should be easy to dismantle also.

If the water from such colossal pollution as this is safe to drink, as the EPA says, what is the justification for the EPA even existing?

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/17/govt- ... ste-spill/

Kiamichi wrote:If the water from such colossal pollution as this is safe to drink, as the EPA says, what is the justification for the EPA even existing?

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/17/govt- ... ste-spill/

Um, the EPA didn't say that. The article didn't even make that claim.

It said the water in New Mexico was safe to drink and for agricultural uses in some places in Colorado.

No one has minimized this spill here in Colorado. It a source of great concern and receives pretty detailed coverage. But, no one here is blaming the EPA for what was clearly an accident in the process of trying to prevent harm from an existing situation. The EPA did not put the contaminates in that water or create the flooding in the mine. But, they were trying to repair the damage. Sometime stuff happens...especially while cleaning up after others.

The Right simply sees this as an opportunity to blame Obama for something else. They do not care about the pollution and clean up problems...just another false "scandal". The same people asking for blood over this are pro-fracking and climate change deniers...no ethical consistency whatsoever. And, incidentally, that is exactly why we need the EPA.

Good to hear the take on the story from one who lives there.

The EPA's version of the BATFe's gun running operations.

No one will go to jail or lose their pension.

As Orwell wrote so many years ago, some animals are more equal than others.

Castle Doctrine wrote:

Kiamichi wrote:If the water from such colossal pollution as this is safe to drink, as the EPA says, what is the justification for the EPA even existing?

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/17/govt- ... ste-spill/

Um, the EPA didn't say that. The article didn't even make that claim.

It said the water in New Mexico was safe to drink and for agricultural uses in some places in Colorado.

No one has minimized this spill here in Colorado. It a source of great concern and receives pretty detailed coverage. But, no one here is blaming the EPA for what was clearly an accident in the process of trying to prevent harm from an existing situation. The EPA did not put the contaminates in that water or create the flooding in the mine. But, they were trying to repair the damage. Sometime stuff happens...especially while cleaning up after others.

The Right simply sees this as an opportunity to blame Obama for something else. They do not care about the pollution and clean up problems...just another false "scandal". The same people asking for blood over this are pro-fracking and climate change deniers...no ethical consistency whatsoever. And, incidentally, that is exactly why we need the EPA.

It said that, just days after this spill, river water in New Mexico was safe to drink.

Kiamichi wrote:

Castle Doctrine wrote:

Kiamichi wrote:If the water from such colossal pollution as this is safe to drink, as the EPA says, what is the justification for the EPA even existing?

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/17/govt- ... ste-spill/

Um, the EPA didn't say that. The article didn't even make that claim.

It said the water in New Mexico was safe to drink and for agricultural uses in some places in Colorado.

No one has minimized this spill here in Colorado. It a source of great concern and receives pretty detailed coverage. But, no one here is blaming the EPA for what was clearly an accident in the process of trying to prevent harm from an existing situation. The EPA did not put the contaminates in that water or create the flooding in the mine. But, they were trying to repair the damage. Sometime stuff happens...especially while cleaning up after others.

The Right simply sees this as an opportunity to blame Obama for something else. They do not care about the pollution and clean up problems...just another false "scandal". The same people asking for blood over this are pro-fracking and climate change deniers...no ethical consistency whatsoever. And, incidentally, that is exactly why we need the EPA.

It said that, just days after this spill, river water in New Mexico was safe to drink.

Yes it did. What it didn't say was that the spill has not yet reached NM in dangerous concentrations. It is still safe to drink the water in NM...but, it may not stay that way. They are actively monitoring contamination along the spill's length. I watched a local news program last night discussing the monitoring and extent of the spill. The spill WAS of a specific volume. It will only contaminate a certain volume of the river. As it spreads the contaminates will decrease in concentration until they are "safe" to drink. I sort of responded to the facts on the ground rather than the content of the article which was badly skewed.

My real point was that here, where we are seriously effected, the focus has been on the damage and recovery...not on blame assignment and partisan political advantage. I have not heard any speculation about who should lose their job or how to punish the EPA. It happened and dealing with it is the focus...as I believe it should be. We have fish kills, contaminated rec areas and considerable concern about long term impact...real stuff to worry about. But, it is nice of you folks who aren't impacted to be so concerned about who we should punish. But, it looks to me like we have this.

planosteve wrote:And nowhere do you hear reported that the EPA was established by executive order not a bill passed by the Congress.
By Richard Nixon.

I did not know that. That needs to be a new litmus test for all presidential candidates that claim to be conservative. "Will you commit to abolishing the EPA via executive order?"

Mark wrote:

planosteve wrote:And nowhere do you hear reported that the EPA was established by executive order not a bill passed by the Congress.
By Richard Nixon.

I did not know that. That needs to be a new litmus test for all presidential candidates that claim to be conservative. "Will you commit to abolishing the EPA via executive order?"

The only problem with that is that the breathless coverage of the press about any environmental issue, whenever a Republican is in office, makes it politically impossible to do away with the EPA. However, Congress could certainly pass an EPA law, which would supersede the executive order.

Kiamichi wrote:

Castle Doctrine wrote:

Kiamichi wrote:If the water from such colossal pollution as this is safe to drink, as the EPA says, what is the justification for the EPA even existing?

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/17/govt- ... ste-spill/

Um, the EPA didn't say that. The article didn't even make that claim.

It said the water in New Mexico was safe to drink and for agricultural uses in some places in Colorado.

No one has minimized this spill here in Colorado. It a source of great concern and receives pretty detailed coverage. But, no one here is blaming the EPA for what was clearly an accident in the process of trying to prevent harm from an existing situation. The EPA did not put the contaminates in that water or create the flooding in the mine. But, they were trying to repair the damage. Sometime stuff happens...especially while cleaning up after others.

The Right simply sees this as an opportunity to blame Obama for something else. They do not care about the pollution and clean up problems...just another false "scandal". The same people asking for blood over this are pro-fracking and climate change deniers...no ethical consistency whatsoever. And, incidentally, that is exactly why we need the EPA.

It said that, just days after this spill, river water in New Mexico was safe to drink.

I have CD on ignoration, of course, but I can see this post. If the national press had not gone on and on and on about how GWB flooded New Orleans, then laughed with glee as the people drowned, the people of New Orleans (and Louisiana) would still have been hearing about it during that time, because it directly affected them. So, it's no wonder that people in Colorado are hearing about this in their state, but here's the deal: I'm not hearing about it anymore in Texas, and I'm watching the national news. And one other thing: the people of "The Right" drink the same water and breathe the same air as the nutbags and Commies on "The Left". We are concerned about real issues (like 3 million gallons of highly toxic waste being released into rivers). We are not concerned about hoaxes like Global Warming. We have a "wait-and-see" attitude about fracking,

[/quote]

Um, the EPA didn't say that. The article didn't even make that claim.

[/quote]What it didn't say was that the spill has not yet reached NM in dangerous concentrations. It is still safe to drink the water in NM...but, it may not stay that way. They are actively monitoring contamination along the spill's length. [/b]I watched a local news program last night discussing the monitoring and extent of the spill. The spill WAS of a specific volume. It will only contaminate a certain volume of the river. As it spreads the contaminates will decrease in concentration until they are "safe" to drink. I sort of responded to the facts on the ground rather than the content of the article which was badly skewed.

My real point was that here, where we are seriously effected, the focus has been on the damage and recovery...not on blame assignment and partisan political advantage. I have not heard any speculation about who should lose their job or how to punish the EPA. It happened and dealing with it is the focus...as I believe it should be. We have fish kills, contaminated rec areas and considerable concern about long term impact...real stuff to worry about. But, it is nice of you folks who aren't impacted to be so concerned about who we should punish. But, it looks to me like we have this.[/quote]


The spill was on a Wednesday, Aug. 5, it had reached Farmington, New Mexico by that Saturday and had turned the river there mustard-colored. By Aug. 11--12 days ago--it was in Utah, almost into Lake Powell, and was visible from the air as being eighty miles long, which means the bulk of it had already passed through New Mexico. The announcement that the water was safe to drink was made after it had passed through, at least the visible part.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /31399517/

Kiamichi wrote:

The spill was on a Wednesday, Aug. 5, it had reached Farmington, New Mexico by that Saturday and had turned the river there mustard-colored. By Aug. 11--12 days ago--it was in Utah, almost into Lake Powell, and was visible from the air as being eighty miles long, which means the bulk of it had already passed through New Mexico. The announcement that the water was safe to drink was made after it had passed through, at least the visible part.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /31399517/[/quote]

You are absolutely right and I am absolutely wrong. I had neither my facts nor my timeline straight. I apologize for challenging you. I also appreciate the further references. I was really posting of the cuff...and off base.

You know, I don't know what I was thinking challenging your facts. You are one of the most credible posters here. I usually pay close attention when you post and research a bit before I respond...more so than with most others. Please understand...I meant what I just said very sincerely. So, please forgive me. Have a good evening. Thank you for your tolerance and understanding.