© ABC News
This letter to editor, posted below, and written by Dave Taylor, from Farmington, New Mexico, was published in The Silverton Standard and The Miner local newspaper, authored by a retired geologist, one week before EPA mine spill. The letter detailed verbatim, how EPA officials would foul up the Animas River on purpose in order to secure superfund money. If the Gold King mine was declared a superfund site it would essentially kill future development for the mining industry in the area. The Obama EPA is vehemently opposed to mining and development.
The EPA pushed for nearly 25 years, to apply its Superfund program to the Gold King mine. If a leak occurred the EPA would then receive superfund status. That is exactly what happened.
The EPA today admitted they misjudged the pressure in the gold mine before the spill - just as this editorial predicted.
The letter was included in their print edition on July 30, 2015. The spill occurred one week later.
Reader Comments
Not enough information. 25 years of push for Superfund status? And even tho it was unusable due to the water collection it was still considered a valuable mine? Hundreds of sites have superfund status, all waiting as no money. If mining was going to active status the huge sludge would have had to have been pumped out costing millions.
If there was any action involved but an accident I would suspect that the mining company had given wrong directions or intel leading to the puncture. They got the mine drained at no cost and the EPA got the blame.