"What Do We Do Now?"

"Get outa here?" Says the EPA contractor as they release a few million gallons of acidic, red, heavy metal laden water into the Animas River.  Video that was originally released on YouTube and then withdrawn was republished by WUWT:



A few buckets worth of dirt thrown into that hole would have stopped it. Better yet, not to have dug that hole in the first place:

EPA admits never planned for ‘worst-case scenario’ at site of toxic mine spill

The Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Wednesday that it did not plan for the "worst-case scenario" at a Colorado mine clean-up operation -- where that scenario unfolded last month when a toxic mine spill sent millions of gallons of sludge into Western rivers.

Mathy Stanislaus, an EPA assistant administrator, testified at the first congressional hearing on the mine disaster. He defended the agency's transparency but said a team has concluded the agency's response plan did not account for a blowout.

"The investigation team also concluded that the emergency response component of the plan did not include the worst-case scenario of a blowout and that's something I committed to, going forward, to make sure that happens," Stanislaus told lawmakers on the House science committee.

Stanislaus' answers did not appear to satisfy lawmakers who accused the EPA of ducking responsibility for the spill that fouled rivers in three Western states.

Plans? We don't need no stinkin' plans! We're EPA! We make other people have plans!

EPA Official Accused of Lying Under Oath on Gold King Mine Disaster

A top EPA official lied under oath during testimony Wednesday when he said the agency responded to a “cave-in” when, in fact, they created the disaster at the Gold King Mine.
Watchdog.org reported:

 An Environmental Protection Agency official lied during a congressional hearing Wednesday when he said the agency responded to a Gold King Mine “cave-in” when in fact EPA contractors created the disaster by barricading the mine last summer, the owner of the mine has charged.
“This was a result of cave-ins and water buildup. That’s why we were there at the time,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. His boss, Administrator Gina McCarthy, did not attend the first congressional hearing into the Animas River Spill, held by the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Although Stanislaus was grilled on other issues such as transparency and double standards pertaining to non-government spills, none of the representatives drilled into Stanislaus’ claim that the Colorado spill was a result of natural forces.
But his comments weren’t lost on Todd Hennis, Gold King’s owner.
“It’s absolute baloney of the worst sort,” Hennis said immediately after the hearing. “They blocked off the flow of water out of the drain pipes and they created the huge wall of water in the Gold King by their actions last year.”

There are people out there who think that the EPA was trying to provoke a minor environmental incident at Gold King to provide support for their taking more direct control of the mining operations. If so, this incident appears to have backfired badly on them.

Besides, they should have the benefit of the presumption of innocence, at least until FOIAd papers, emails or text messages show their intentions. Someone is FOIAing them, I should hope. Trust but verify.