Navajo Nation declares emergency after mine spill, residents demand answers

[niyad]

Residents demand health answers as mine spill fouls rivers



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Scott Roberts, an aquatic biologist with Mountain Studies Institute, collects insects out of the Animas River, in Durango Colo., on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, to check on their health. MSI has been keeping an eye on the insects starting just before and during the toxic minerals that came down the river from the Gold King Mine on Wednesday. (Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald via AP)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Farmers, towns and tribes slammed water-intake gates shut as a sludge-laden plume from a Colorado mine spill rolled down principal rivers in the desert Southwest on Monday, prompting local officials and families to demand answers about possible long-term threats from heavy metals borne along by the spill.

Colorado and New Mexico declared stretches of the Animas and San Juan rivers to be disaster areas as the orange-colored waste stream estimated to be 100 miles long churned downstream toward Lake Powell in Utah after the spill Wednesday at the abandoned Gold King mine.

The Navajo Nation, which covers parts of New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, also declared an emergency as it shut down water intake systems and stopped diverting water from the San Juan River. Members of the tribal council were frustrated during a special meeting Monday and echoed the sentiment of New Mexico officials that the federal government needs to be held accountable.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who toured the region over the weekend, said she was heartbroken and called the spill a catastrophe. "It's absolutely devastating," she said. The 3 million gallons of mine waste included high concentrations of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals. Workers with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accidentally unleashed the spill as federal and contract workers inspected the abandoned mine site near Silverton, Colorado.

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http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/national/2015/08/residents_demand_health_answers_as_mine_spill_fouls_rivers

[ChazII]

1. EPA needs to be held accountable.

Members of the tribal council were frustrated during a special meeting Monday and echoed the sentiment of New Mexico officials that the federal government needs to be held accountable.

[AuntPatsy]

2. .

Incredibly sad and devastating and so it continues,

[Warpy]

3. Hundred year old mine tailings and there are hundreds of them out there

One of the first things out here is that wild caught trout aren't particularly safe to eat since they're full of heavy metals from those old mines. The men who created them are long gone, most of them dying in bed half a century ago whether they got rich or not.

It will probably cost more than those old mines produced to clean up their messes.

That the EPA accidentally pulled the plug only hurried the problem up a little, the mine had been leaking 250 gallons of contaminated water a minute for years. The Animas is part of the Colorado River Basin.

[Fred Sanders]

4. The Coloradospill of a gold mine tailings pond has caused a state of emergency...why the media

can get away with cartoon re-runs instead of actual real and important news every empty hour of every empty day is beyond me.

[Zorra]

5. Corporate greed: The gift that keeps on giving.

[Jim Beard]

6. yup

they took their money and ran. The conservative way of solving problems. Not to mention the locals who wanted the mines to stay despite the posions.

Now all of us need to pay for their profits.

[DaGoogler21]

7. This is what the US media doesn't want you to see regarding the river in Colorado.

It's much worse than the media is covering up.

Please could someone share this in the video section? I am too new to post it. Thank you for any help. The Native American community appreciates any support that people provide for this terrible tragedy. Real lives depend upon this river for food and sustainability. It is truly horrific what has happened.

[Zorra]

9. Thank you. Welcome to DU, DaGoogler21!

Your video is posted in Video and Multimedia

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017285769

[Zorra]

8. ^

[KoKo]

10. Recommend...thanks for this post!

[niyad]

11. you are most welcome

[niyad]

12. . . .