Last week there was a massive environmental disaster here in the United States. Massive amounts of toxic waste water was released into the Animas River near Durango Colorado. This massive spill of toxic waste water has turned the river into a sickly mustard color, and is threatening not only the rustic town of Durango, but massive numbers of people, farms, and animals who live down stream.
Who was responsible for this your ask? Was it some mega-corporation intent on extracting as much wealth as possible from the earth? The answer is actually shocking: it was the EPA. That is right, the people who caused this disaster were from the federal agency who claim to be protecting the environment.
If a private company had been responsible for this disaster the EPA would have wasted no time holding them accountable. They would doubtless be crucified in the court of public opinion before being fined into oblivion by the federal government. However, since the EPA was the party responsible for this disaster they are just saying, “It is really a tragic and very unfortunate incident.” Calling this disaster a tragic and fortunate incident doesn’t do it justice.
The EPA also initially downplayed this disaster, saying only 1 million gallons (which is still a massive amount) toxic waste water was released into the Animas River, but the NPR is now reporting the spill exceeded three million gallons of waste water, three times the amount the EPA initially stated.
The EPA must be held accountable for this disaster. If the EPA wants to hold the companies and individuals of the United States to a high environmental standard the EPA needs to follow that standard too.