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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNavajo Nation says it feels brunt of Colorado mine leak
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Russell Begaye stared at the yellow water that keeps pouring out of a hole in the side of a Colorado mountain, racing down a slope and dumping heavy metals into rivers critical to survival on the nation's largest Native American reservation and across the Southwest.
At the Gold King Mine, Begaye, president of the Navajo Nation, couldn't help but see the concerned faces of his people - the farmers who can't water their corn now, and the ranchers scrambling to keep their cattle, sheep and goats away from the polluted San Juan River.
"We were told that the water was clearing up and getting back to normal," he said. "This is what EPA was telling us. We wanted to go up there as close as we could to the source. We wanted our people to see the water is still yellow."
Climbing unannounced past barriers and up the mountain, Begaye and a small contingent of Navajo officials got a closer look over the weekend at the mine blowout sending more than 3 million gallons of water laden with lead, arsenic and other metals into Cement Creek, then down the Animas River and into the San Juan River.
A 100-mile-long plume has since traveled for hundreds of miles, through parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah on the way to Lake Powell, a key source of water for the Southwest. And the yellow sludge has been diluted along the way to the point of transparency, but authorities were still concerned about potentially toxic metals in the plume.
more...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MINE_WASTE_LEAK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-12-12-37-36
haikugal
(6,476 posts)Thanks for the OP?
On edit..
Finger error with the question mark, sorry about that.
magicmama
(50 posts)to resolve the matter of the plume and the aftereffects - I know the EPA will do more cleanup, if necessary, to the river as they know it is critical to the Southwest.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)That involved water that the tribe was fighting? My memory isn't that good on this.
I hope they get this stopped it sounds like it will poison the river permanently.
magicmama
(50 posts)The last mining-related accident prior to the Gold King accident was in 1968 - a cavein in Somerset, Colorado
http://www3.gendisasters.com/colorado/19803/somerset-co-slate-rock-cave-in-sep-1968
Oh, and this is also related to Silverton - last accident was 1942.
http://www3.gendisasters.com/colorado/19793/silverton-co-gold-mine-suffocations-jan-1942
haikugal
(6,476 posts)Arizona, or New Mexico I think. Anyway, thanks for hanging in there...I was thinking about a different issue and it got plugged into this. I appreciate it.
magicmama
(50 posts)New Mexico especially with the nuclear waste dump having to be shut down.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)and the offending company will get a slap on the wrist.
former9thward
(32,136 posts)The mine has been out of business since 1920. The EPA has said their employees caused the spill.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Thank you and bless you for these posts, Purveyor.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Where are all the mine Corps? Someone was using this mine to dump spent mining sludge into. Let them pay for cleanup.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)I didn't realize it was still gushing like that until this OP....unbelievable.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)This lower one was covered by a landslide and left for years. The area towns didn't want superfund cleanup because they were afraid cleanup work would scare off tourism.
I think the gold mining Corps should pay for this disaster, the sludge should never even be dumped in the waterways at all.