EPA won’t face fines for polluting rivers with orange muck

The Washington Times ^ | August 11, 2015 | Valerie Richardson

[jazusamo]

DENVER — Unlike BP, which was fined $5.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the EPA will pay nothing in fines for unleashing the Animas River spill.

“Sovereign immunity. The government doesn’t fine itself,” said Thomas L. Sansonetti, former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s division of environment and natural resource.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and other lawmakers have called on the EPA to hold itself to the same standards as it would a private company in the aftermath of Wednesday’s accident, in which an EPA-led crew uncorked a 3 million-gallon spill of orange wastewater from the abandoned Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.

[headstamp 2]

““Sovereign immunity. The government doesn’t fine itself,” said Thomas L. Sansonetti, former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s division of environment and natural resource. “

Fine, let the states, municipalities and private citizens sue them then. Governmental entities are sued all the time.

[Domangart]

There was no dam. There was a plug. The other mine was plugged It shared the river with the Gold King. They removed an old pile that was pushed into the mine. All the water that was washing out of the lower mine was combined with the GOLD king mine. 500 gal per minute, THERE ARE 40,000 OF THE MINES IN THE ARES. THE LOCALS OBJECTED TO THE MINES BEING PLACED IN A sUPER FUND SITE. EPA caved and placed them in another EEIC.

[Joe Boucher]

Fines?
How about executions?
Hey E.P.A., F. you. Along with nearly every other federal gub mint alphabet agency.

[jazusamo]

How about executions?

I hear you! Much more appropriate.

[Renkluaf]

Of course they won’t face fines. They’ll launch an investigation then refuse to turn over documents to the investigators. /sarc

[stboz]

And all that water’s going to be sucked up by (wait for it) CALIFORNIA!

...and Mexico.

[__rvx86]

Eventually, that stuff is going to reach Texas...

Plot twist: The E.P.A. ends up fining the company that they were assisting in the first place. (Wouldn’t be surprised)

[SpaceBar]

I live with an earth scientist and he says what you did ..it will have those metals there forever...and he said it is the arsenic making it orange.

Well your resident 'earth scientist' is wrong. The orange isn't due to arsenic at all. It's due to hydrated iron oxide, mainly limonite, and jarosite, which comes from the weathing of pyrite. So it's basically rust.

[Osage Orange]

Did you read the article?