Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy told U.S. senators there are still many unknowns until the Department of Interior completes its review of the EPA’s handling of the Gold King Mine spill.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee questioned McCarthy in a Wednesday hearing about the scope of the investigation, but the administrator said the EPA has been adamantly hands-off through the process to ensure an unbiased review.
While excavating at the mine portal for remedial purposes, an EPA crew inadvertently released an estimated 3 million gallons of acidic water into multiple southwestern waterways.
McCarthy repeated to senators that the agency was aware of the risk of a blowout, and it was there in the first place to explore restoration options at the state’s request.
“There’s no leadership position accountable for this entire issue,” McCarthy said about mine cleanup in general. She pointed out that the EPA tracks the small percentage of mines that make it on the national priority list. Those sites are eligible for federal Superfund dollars, but the community has in the past resisted that designation.
Questioned about her availability post-spill, McCarthy said she didn’t want to “confuse the situation” by being present.
As House of Representative members did at last week’s hearing, Senate committee members accused the EPA of being cavalier and hypocritical about the spill’s impact.
“The initial reaction of the agency seemed to downplay the incident,” Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said. “Statements like ‘the water is healing itself,’ if an oil executive said that, people would have gone ballistic.”
McCarthy agreed the EPA should be held accountable just as a private company, but as long as both take the proper steps, only a settlement or court order would result in a penalty.
But Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, cited multiple instances of criminal charges brought against private companies and court cases accusing the EPA of violating clean-air and water laws. McCarthy said the EPA had not broken the law.
“They should be held at least to the same standard as a private company,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. “We have the DOI moving forward, and will have to learn from the investigation whether an inquiry is necessary. The facts will speak for themselves as to what is warranted.”
Congress has a massive undertaking ahead if it re-examines the 1872 Mining Act that allows the industry to go largely unchecked. But the first priority is good Samaritan legislation that would facilitate the cleanup, which Gardner said he would undoubtedly support.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said the spill and communication protocol were unacceptable, but the incident should be looked at in context, given the hundreds of gallons of polluted water that were already flowing out of Gold King and other mines on a daily basis. But this is why legislators have asked the EPA and president to prioritize water treatment, he said.
“We worked with Sen. (Barbara) Boxer, Sen. Mark Udall and the EPA to establish guidance for good Samaritans to allow them to do cleanup work without being liable under the Clean Water Act,” Bennet said in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, this didn’t provide enough certainty and hasn’t encouraged action.”
The Colorado legislators are working to reintroduce a good Samaritan bill.
McCarthy said the eyes of multiple experts and engineers were on the work plan being carried out Aug. 5, and the agency correctly followed notification requirements, but communication has room for improvement.
She could not confirm to the committee details about cellphone coverage and being inadequately equipped to call out of the mine site.
“We had a response team in place,” she said. “We had on-scene coordinators and EPA staff that immediately put that in motion. But we always look back to see what can we do better and quicker.”
There are 161,000 abandoned mines in the West and Alaska, 23,000 of which are in Colorado. Taxpayers get the bill if good Samaritans don’t take responsibility for mine cleanup. Furthermore, proposed fees on hard-rock mining and a reinstating of the Superfund tax have failed to become law.
“We need a revenue stream to put programs in place to work on the worst of these sites,” Sen. Ed Markey said. “People don’t like to hear it, but you need money.”