Colorado contains some of the world's most beautiful mountains, rivers, and lakes; therefore, living here brings a high level of responsibility to protect these natural wonders. So what happened to the Animas River located in Durango, Colorado in early August? Did the people of that town ignore any warning signs that the river would soon turn into a dangerous flow of toxic water? No, in fact, they were completely unaware that the once healthy and gorgeous blue waters would turn into a coffee-like tan. What exactly happened? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) happened. While investigating the Gold King Mine near Silverton, an EPA crew accidentally released approximately three-million gallons of toxic waste into the Animas River.
Colorado has an abundance of abandoned mines throughout the state. These mines contain heavy metals and can become incredibly toxic when they come into contact with a water source. When rain seeps into these mines, they create pools of acidic waste. The EPA monitors some of these mines to ensure that there is not a threat of contamination to water sources for human consumption. The big question is, why not go into these mines during the earlier stages after closure to clean them before they are filled with pools of waste? The Gold King Mine has been closed since 1991, which tells me that the EPA is on a lag of sorts. It also tells me that the agency cannot handle the volume of issues in front of them. From the Clean Air Act to the Coal Plant Reduction Policies, they have little time to spend on places such as the Gold King Mine. What has been reported as an accident, to me, seems like a careless act to "get in and get out" as quickly as possible, which is why the citizens that live along the Animas River must now find alternate water sources.
How can this be fixed? As far as the river itself, only time will tell if it can ever be returned to its normal and healthy state. In regards to the EPA, I believe we should reconsider its status as a federal agency. It has a history of sitting at the bottom of presidential agendas and has always been considered the least popular issue within public opinion. John Stewart does a fantastic job (in the clip below) of showing us how unimportant we find the environment, our sustainability, and our future for energy consumption. While he does speak briefly about Former President Nixon and his creation of the EPA, his main focus is about our inability to procure any form of environmental security or energy independency for the past two decades.
So if it has been this difficult to make any change towards a more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable country, why keep the EPA? Their agenda is of the least concern in congress, to the president, and now the Animas River is a toxic cesspool. It seems like the Environmental "Protection" Agency has done more harm than good. I would strongly advise congress to reevaluate the EPA's function and consider dissolving the agency, putting its roles and decision-making power into the hands of the 50 states. Maybe then can we avoid catastrophes such as the Animas River contamination in the future, since each state understands and cares about the importance of their lands and resources.
