updated 08/23/2015

WATER ISSUES GOLD KING MINE TOXIC SPILL IN SOUTHWEST COLORADO AND COLUMBIA RIVER OREGON PROBLEMS EPA KNEW POSSIBLE GOLD KING MINE PROBLEMS BEFORE ACCIDENT http://www.9news.com/story/news/2015/08/22/epa-knew--possible-gold-king-mine- problems-before-accident/32188877/ The Orange River: Not What The Golden River Website Had In Mind... ...when photographing an earlier version of the recently contaminated Animas River and putting it on the front page of thegoldenriver.net Here are excellent photos of the Gold King Mine wastewater spill: http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/wastewater-spill- from-colorado-gold-mine?articleId=USKCN0QF01C20150810 Here is an excellent introduction to this kind of mining related water pollution: Earthworks Excerpt: Acid mine drainage is one of mining's most serious threats to water. A mine draining acid can devastate rivers, streams, and aquatic life for hundreds, and under the "right" conditions, thousands of years. ...acid mine drainage can have severe impacts on fish, animals and plants. Many impacted streams have a pH of 4 or lower -- similar to battery acid. See more at: https://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/acid_mine_drainage Toxic Effluvia From Gold King Mine north of Silverton, Colorado Spilled into Local Water Drainages Mine waste has been a concern for decades in terms of local water supply. I remember a man I went hiking with up there telling me he had no trust in the local water supply in Durango and that it was best to use filtered water; he said the water was contaminated from mine waste pollution. This was back around 1994 or 1995. Some questions that come to mind over the EPA connection to this disaster are: Why is a regulating agency like the EPA personally handling a cleanup? In my ignorance, I have to ask if this is normal. Shouldn’t such an agency keep its distance (and objectivity) by having local area companies and groups handle the actual hands on cleanup work? Even if contracting with a local cleanup crew, the fact they are directly involved seems suspicious and that it would be more prudent to have regulatory overseers and advisers stay on one side of the legalities in enforcement of environmental standards, with workers and implementers on the other side. How about using self-contained holding tanks to suck up contaminated mine water rather than earth or rock dams? How about using robots to check out tunnels for unsuspected water levels and vacuums to suck out water into holding tanks? How about drying out the watery areas and dealing with the contaminants as dry substances - it might make it easier to deal with. If the toxins had been kept in a controlled area, transformation or alleviation of toxicity might have been possible. By having the stew spread across the land below, it is impossible to deal with effectively. It should be a primary objective to keep the toxified material in highly controlled areas with backup plans for mishaps part of the strategy for reparation. See: The EPA Is Polluting Our Rivers: Where’s The Outrage? http://acsh.org/2015/08/the-epa-is-polluting-our-rivers-wheres-the-outrage/ Why wasn’t there better planning and foresight? Why does the event feel like a bunch of bulls (bulldozers) in a china closet? Backup plans for unforeseen flow (runaway flows) seems necessary. The reliance on a soil based dam to hold in the noxious substances comes across as unprofessional; what if there had been a serious rain storm rather than an unsuspected amount of water in the mine tunnels that had caused the problem? Preparation in advance for possible flow mishaps seems to be prudent. We can’t fix the problem after the fact, but perhaps there is a use for this information in future mine water reparation projects. In addition, perhaps this lack of preparatory professionalism is a red flag that something is amiss with the EPA itself and locals working with it. 1. The STEW: That toxic mess had been stewing together for years. Started to be dumped in 1920s or before. Contents of contaminated water: Lead, Iron, Cadmium, Copper, Arsenic and more. Unique stew reactants and reaction causal agents. The stew includes a mix of the chemicals themselves and other things. Probably not just the originally mine discharged chemicals are the problem but includes later modified materials. On top of this there might be pond-like bacteria, viruses and algae. Although unlikely after all this time of being closed, we can ask if any other materials on hand at the mine are in the stew - for example old machinery oils, fecal matter from toilet areas that never dried out, etc. 2. Bacteria, viruses and algae. 3. Bioaccumulation. Common sense: any time any pond-like body of water lays stagnant for a period of time, organisms deleterious to human life might develop. Excerpt from Wildlife Utah: Scientists once thought the brine layer in the lake effectively sequestered heavy metals. More recent studies on mercury and selenium concentrations show that the exact opposite could be happening—the chemistry of the lake is actually converting, or methylating, the mercury and thus making it available for absorption into algae and microorganisms. Brine shrimp feed on algae and incorporate heavy metals into their fatty acids. When the birds eat brine shrimp, they accumulate even more heavy metals in their system. This process is known as bioaccumulation and can be highly toxic for birds and other animals higher up in the food chain, including humans. http://wildlife.utah.gov/gsl/facts/heavy_metals.php 4. Environmentally driven genetic modifications? Hypothetically again, there might be a possibility of genetically modified organisms changed by interaction with the concoction of substances. 5. Acids: Remember that acid breaks down metals into other substances and these in turn might mix with yet other elements and compounds causing both known and unknown problems Effects of Inorganic and Organic Acids on Heavy Metals; Leaching in Contaminated Sediment https://www.imwa.info/docs/imwa_2014/IMWA2014_Yan_406.pdf http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/upload/amd.pdf 6. Salts: Salts can change the nature of barriers in living things. How do salts and acids impact a toxic compound’s tendency to leak through cell barriers or weaken plant/animal life resistance to disease/poisons? Salts along highways to control ice in winter are known to impact trees like ponderosas; Flagstaff, Arizona’s experience of long stretches of dead yellow trees along its major roads is a good example - but this is only a simple example because heavy metals in the form of salts are more dangerous, complex and long-lasting in the environment. Excerpt from Wildlife Utah: Since there is no outlet, heavy metals, often in the form of inorganic soluble salts, accumulate. Heavy metals end up in streams from weathering, mining, milling, and refining of surrounding mountains. If concentrations of these heavy metals persist, they could become toxic to life forms. It is actually currently unknown how much or little the heavy metals in the GSL are impacting the ecosystem. http://wildlife.utah.gov/gsl/facts/heavy_metals.php http://hesperian.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/en_cgeh_2012/en_cgeh_2012_21.pdf http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2011/402647/ 7. Heavy metals: http://www.lifeextension.com/protocols/health-concerns/heavy-metal- detoxification/page-01 https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/heavy-metal-poisoning/ Subdivisions of Heavy Metal Poisoning Aluminum Poisoning Antimony Poisoning Arsenic Poisoning Barium Poisoning Bismuth Poisoning Cadmium Poisoning Chromium Poisoning Cobalt Poisoning Copper Poisoning Gold Poisoning 8. Arsenic: everyone knows how deadly arsenic is but how much is too much and how likely is it to seep into ground water and wells in strengths sufficient to cause problems? 9 Radiation? Any Uranium or related waste in this mess? Radium? 10. Fumes? How likely is breathing the fumes from the stew likely to cause health problems? Although more concentrated fluids are probably more dangerous to breathe, at what point is breathing any portion of the stew dangerous, especially if harmful microscopic organisms are present? Although probably not a problem in this situation, just think about how breathing chlorine gas can be dangerous. Staying out of the contaminated water alone might not be the final answer; staying away from breathing fumes (whether they can be smelled or not) might also be an issue. Since the stew might have uncertain characteristics, we should not assume anything without a full chemical breakdown. 11. Water Purification: Filtering devices for water: how effective against the more dangerous substances and what are the chances for inadequate testing of all possible contaminants? RESOURCES Colorado health department: Durango can start treating Animas water, dispersing to customers http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3877734.shtml#.VcvHLvlViko KOB conducting independent water testing as EPA asks for NM's help 8/11/2015 Excerpt: New Mexico is taking it upon itself to test the water in our state, and some Navajo Nation officials are asking the federal government for independent testing there, saying they don't trust what the EPA is telling them. Since not everyone trusts what the EPA is telling them, KOB has decided to get the water tested ourselves, hiring an independent lab to analyze water we've collected from the Animas. Mary Miles is like anyone else who lives along the river – scared. Not just of what's floating in her well water, but of how little she's heard from the EPA. http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3876810.shtml#.VcvGIPlVikr NDTV: Toxic Spill From Colorado Mine Creeps Through US Southwest 8/12/2015 http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/toxic-spill-from-colorado-mine-creeps-through-us-southwest- 1206342 Colorado’s Silverton, Durango, and vicinity; New Mexico’s Aztec, Farmington and vicinity: Video clip, says mine last operated in 1923; state of local emergency for Durango and La Plata County http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/waste-water-from-gold-king-mine-reaches- new-mexico 9 News: has a strong level of information not found elsewhere in one place and a video news clip http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/08/06/silverton-mine-plug/31218753/ Common Dreams: EPA Causes Massive Mine Waste Spill Turns River Orange http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/08/07/epa-causes-massive-mine-waste-spill-colorado-turns- river-orange Denver Post Huge Highly Toxic EPA Caused Mine Spill Into Durango, Colorado’s Animas RIver (photo above is earlier version of river) and Beyond - Denver Post KOAT http://www.koat.com/news/epa-confirms-colorado-mine-spill-contains-heavy-metals/34601216 Durango Herald: Huge Water Contamination Problem Southwest Colorado, Northwest New Mexico and Beyond:: Toxic EPA Caused Animas River Spill - Durango Herald CPR Colorado Public Radio - good photographs and background info on mine’s waste area https://www.cpr.org/news/story/how-did-epa-trigger-million-gallon-spill-mine-waste-water-near- silverton Wildlife: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/ Mining Health Hazards During Mining and After http://hesperian.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/en_cgeh_2012/en_cgeh_2012_21.pdf Water Testing - Click here or See Resources Section - Water- Water Testing in this website. This list is being edited and updated 8/12/2015