Time to go on the warpath, Kemosabe!
EPA supervisor Hays Griswold, who was at the scene of the blowout Aug. 5, told The Denver Post in an interview this month the plan in place “couldn’t have worked.” He said conditions in the mine were worse than anticipated.
“Nobody expected (the acid water backed up in the mine) to be that high,” he said.
Griswold and his crew were using a backhoe to investigate the area near the Gold King’s portal when the blowout happened.
“All that was holding it back was the dirt. The dirt just wasn’t going to hold,” Griswold said.
The EPA redacted cost estimates for the work from Environmental Restoration’s contracts released Friday, covering up figures with a black mark. The agency says the costs were redacted because it is “confidential business information.”
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28685398/gold-king-mine-epa-was-told-danger-blowout