EPA Mine Waste Spill: Animas River Turns Yellow

[RUSH]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/epa-cleanup-accident-leaks-yellow-sludge-river-article-1.2319500

Nothing like accidentally spilling 3,000,000 gallons of contaminated waste water into the Animas River. Just look at those pictures. It's bright yellow - as in dandelion yellow. That can't be good. The irony is that they were apparently trying to clean up the area and make it safer by preventing the slow leak of mine contamination. It's kind of hilarious how they downplay the incident by stating the environmental impact is "unknown" when clearly it was hazardous enough to warrant containing in the first place. Bravo.

[Jaxxoon R]

Well you know, probably deadly but at least it looks quite pretty from very, very far away.

[Maes]

EPA said:

The debris also includes cadmium, aluminum, copper and calcium

Well, at least residents will get their minerals.

[darknation]

I think you may be colour blind. That river is quite clearly orange.

[Doomkid]

I'm with Susana Martinez, what a bunch of retards.. "This just happens sometimes" I dunno, I don't recall the last time I saw a glowing piss-yellow river, but I'm sure that excuse looked better before they pulled it out of their collective ass. I'd rather swim in nukage than that shit, from appearances alone..

[40oz]

I wouldn't say its orange but I don't think its dandelion or piss yellow. More like construction vehicle yellow

[Technician]

We just had a mine leak some yellow noxious gas today, next city over. Coincidence? Likely.

[Csonicgo]

Maes said:

Well, at least residents will get their minerals.

Apparently it didn't de-mineralize the mining company that left this mess behind for the EPA to clean up, if you know what I mean.

On the other hand, it's the perfect story for the laissez-faire conservatives. Even if this mess wouldn't have existed in any form without shady practices by the company, the fact that the EPA made a mistake is "proof" of the "gubmint doesn't work" narrative. The 2010 Gulf oil spill is now largely forgotten to the general public, so it's fair game to cry wolf again.

EDIT: There's apparently a group of conservative "news" sites trying to make an otherwise boring EPA particulate study into the equivalent of Obama forcing children to suck the tailpipe of a rollin' coal pickup truck. This was referenced on FOX News this afternoon in conjunction with this story.

[Technician]

This actually is a bigger problem than what we see here. It's common practice for mining companies to just dump their toxic waste into their mines once the resources have been fully exploited. This, of course, eventually finds it's way into the ground water, contaminating it. Most communities around areas that were mined for coal have terrible well water that plagues them with great health implications.

[RUSH]

I'm wondering how they even managed to release an entire mine's worth of waste in the first place. If there was only a mere leak in the entrance why didn't they just patch it up? I doubt we'll ever get the full story though. They got to cover their asses and act like "this sort of thing just happens with mines sometimes." Okay, no biggie then. Makes sense.

[Walter confetti]

i've seen it on the news some day ago...

That yellow river reminded me of the lava floors color in Doom for some reason...

[CorSair]

RUSH said:

I'm wondering how they even managed to release an entire mine's worth of waste in the first place. If there was only a mere leak in the entrance why didn't they just patch it up? I doubt we'll ever get the full story though. They got to cover their asses and act like "this sort of thing just happens with mines sometimes." Okay, no biggie then. Makes sense.

If I read correctly (can't remember where), they were supposed to put a tap on tailing pond, but somehow they managed to break the seal that hold that sludge on pond.

Some geologist in local newspaper told about what would happen if there would be accident or "accident". Gonna search that piece.

Another thing that was spread that the local government didn't want the superfunding to clear the mines in fear of losing tourism revenue.

Whatever is the case, that river contains hazardous amount of arsenic, lead and cadmium along with other chemicals and minerals, and cleaning that river is gonna take years. And not forgetting possibilities what could happen to local fauna.

.:edit:.
I think it was this one
http://www.silvertonstandard.com/news.php?id=847

Quite a coincidence, if I may say so.