Public health still isn’t safe nearly nine months after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accidentally poisoned Animas river with 880,000 pounds of dangerous metals, including toxic lead and arsenic, according to the New Mexico Environment Department’s chief scientist.
The metals saturate the river banks north of Farmington, N.M., the scientist, Dennis McQuillan, told a committee of citizens concerned about the EPA-caused disaster Monday at San Juan College, the Farmington Daily Times reported.
The federal agency spilled three million gallons of mine waste containing the metals after it intentionally breached Colorado’s Gold King Mine in August. The agency has since said the river is safe for humans and wildlife. (RELATED: EPA Says Yellow River Now Safe, But Still Wants Control)
McQuillan said spring runoff will cause the saturated contaminants to wash downstream towards Farmington and it’s uncertain where the pollutants will go from there. (RELATED: Feds Poison A River With Lead And Arsenic, Still Won’t Protect Locals)
“We know heavy metals get taken up the food chain,” he told the committee. Farmington, with a population of around 45,000 people, relies on the river as a drinking source.
The EPA has since proposed designating the region around Gold King Mine a superfund site. Agency documents show there are heavy threats to the human food chain and the environment, despite the EPA’s public claim the Animas River is safe, The Daily Caller News Foundation previously revealed.
McQuillan also criticized the EPA’s slow response to protecting human health following the spill. The New Mexico Environment Department requested $6 million to fund a long-term study, but the EPA only offered $465,000 nearly three weeks later, the Farmington Daily Times reported.
“I’m amazed at the push-back we’re still getting, especially in light of Flint, Michigan,” McQuillan said. Incompetence among federal, state and local officials caused a lead-related water crisis in Flint, Mich.
The town received $80 million and sentiments from President Barack Obama, and three officials were recently charged with crimes related to the crisis. Conversely, no one has been punished for the EPA-caused Gold King Mine spill, the Department of Justice isn’t investigating the disaster, and the federal agency has shelled out comparatively little funding to affected towns.
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