N.M. governor bashes EPA for flooding Animas River with orange toxic wastewater

The Washington Times ^ | August 8, 2015 | Valerie Richardson

[jazusamo]

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez blasted the EPA for accidentally flooding the Animas River with toxic orange wastewater, calling on the agency to hold itself to the same standard for the disaster as it would a private entity.

“Imagine what would happen if a private company caused this waste spill,” the Republican governor said in a Friday statement.

“This was caused by the EPA and the EPA should demand the same of itself as it would of a private business responsible for such a spill, particularly when it comes to making information available to the public and state and local officials,” she said.

An EPA team inadvertently unplugged one million gallons of epa-takes-heat-wastewater-spill-colorado-river/” target=”_blank”>wastewater during an assessment project at the inactive Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, sending contaminated orange fluid down Cement Creek and into the Animas River, which crosses into New Mexico.

[george76]

He is hiding under his desk in fear.

[IMR 4350]

Back in the late 1990s the man that owned the property next to my oil lease caught the EPA on my lease opening a valve and dumping salt water out of my separator on the ground.

He asked them what they were doing and they told him the valve was leaking salt water and they were just closing it.

He let the EPA know he had checked the separator just a couple of hours before and it wasn’t leaking.

The EPA started making threats of having him arrested.

He was a jailer so that made him a deputy sheriff.

He showed the EPA his badge and said he would be glad to introduce them to the sheriff.

He got their name for me and their license plate number then told them if he caught them out on my lease again touching my equipment he was going to arrest them.

Funny thing I never heard anything from the EPA about a leaking valve.

[Darksheare]

The EPA does crap like that all the time to justify their existence.

[jazusamo]

Good for him. I’d like to have seen the look on those turkeys faces when the deputy said he’d introduce them to the sheriff.

The EPA and their pompous bureaucrats are adept at intimidation until they come up against someone like your neighbor.

[cpdiii]

The EPA has said in effect “there is no confirmed environmental damage,” press release today.

If the company had caused the pollutants to be released the EPA would be saying, “the magnitude of this toxic release is beyond a scale with which to measure.” Which oddly enough would be correct. The acidity of the pollutants is not important. What is important is the acidity is what makes the heavy metals soluble. What we have in effect is a toxic heavy metal spill. This is a major spill caused by the EPA!!!!!!!!!!!

[cpdiii]

Ha! I’ll bet the initial delay of 24 or so hours happened because every bureaucrat up the line in the EPA was thinking WTF are we going to say.

What will they say to those downstream that used that water for drinking and farming. They should have immediately put out an announcement that the water was polluted with heavy metal toxins and to not use it. They did not do this.

[IMR 4350]

Yes they do.

[jazusamo]

Absolutely right, notifications should have been given immediately to cities, counties, states and Indian reservations downstream before they saw it in the river.

Bump to your prior post.

[IMR 4350]

He wasn’t joking with them.

He had a jackass that roamed around on the 2 properties and if that jackass got into that salt water and drank it that would have killed it.

[Clay Moore]

How many EPA employees will be sued for millions or billions of dollars?

How many EPA employees will go to prison for long periods of time?

None you say? Some animals -are- more equal than others.

[NoCmpromiz]

The EPA does crap like that all the time to justify their existence.

Where I live here in 'upstate' NY (upstate is a term used by NYC residents to define any part of NY outside of the Five Boroughs that is not called Long Island or Westchester) it is farm country. More specifically, it is dairy farm country. A dairy farmer makes his money for the most part from selling milk. The milk comes from cows (not the Rosie O'Donnel type, the bovine type.) As such, the profits, if any, are more or less directly proportional to the number of cows that you can slap your milking machine on.

This has always been a dairy farm region going back to the Dutch. Cows have been in the pasture for centuries here. When cows are in the barn, you eventually need to devise a means to remove quantities of odoriferous solid matter and load it into your Obama Promise Redistributor and fertilize your fields. (see picture for example..)

In your barnlike habitat you can devise methods of containment so that liquid portions of cow effluent do not run into the little creek that (in this area) more than likely meanders through your property. Since Bossy is not into visiting the conveniently located portapotty while out in the pasture, when Bossy has the urge, Bossy goes. Right there. On the ground. In the open.

OK.. So much for background. Now about the EPA..

A couple of weeks ago an article appeared in the local news that the EPA (the 'we're from the government, we're here to help you' people) wandered randomly through the area checking 'water quality' in some of those meandering-through-the-pasture streams of non-potable water. They have informed a local farmer that the runoff from his pasture had one or two more e coli per gallon (or whatever their measurement standard was) in it than their 'standards' allow. Because of this heinous crime committed by his cows defecating in the open pasture, he either must decrease the size of his herd (by something like 70%) or build retaining walls bordering the meandering-through-the-pasture stream to prevent the stuff from entering the non-potable creek and rendering the non-potable water non-potable...

I thoroughly expect them to randomly appear shortly after one of the farmers empties his barn of obamapromises and uses his Obama Promise Redistributor to fertilize the fields (which also, more likely than not, have one of those meandering-through-the-field streams) and then issue regulations governing bullsh*t spreading...

...and exempt themselves from the regulation.

[IMR 4350]

That would be funny if it wasn’t true, and nobody could make that up. You can’t make something like that up.

The man I bought my oil lease from got fined $500 for having an oily glove on the ground at his well site.

He knew the glove had to be planted there because he never used that kind of glove.

He only bought the cheap black dot gloves and would clean and reuse them until they were completely worn out, as in shreds.

The oily glove the EPA claimed they found on the ground at his well site was a fairly new orange dot glove.

He was fined another $2500 for something even more ridiculous than an oily glove on the ground but I don’t remember the details.

The EPA is an agency that has been out of control for a long time.

[eyeamok]

Maybe the governor should have the attorney general of the state File Criminal charges against everyone responsible,force Obama to pardon them or let them for in prison

[Popman]

I don't know why New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has her knickers in such a twist...

The EPA apologized, what more can she expect

/ S

[bert]

states should force EPA to get a permit before entering the state and take months an months to issue it

[unixfox]

I wonder if they will fine themselves or fire anybody over this.

Naw...

[unixfox]

Should have just shot the bastards for trespassing. Buzzards got to eat too!

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Funny thing I never heard anything from the EPA about a leaking valve.

Feel-good story of the day. 8-)

[Fightin Whitey]

The EPA thought it was an illegal stockpile of TANG, so they liberated the tasty tasty TANG for the people!

Pontoontang.

[IMR 4350]

The EPA should consider themselves lucky my neighbor showed up when he did.

The guys jackass that roamed the properties was about like the worlds biggest watchdog.

He wouldn’t just chase a trespasser but he would bite and kick the crap out of trespassers when he caught them then he would kick the crap out of their car.