2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill

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2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill
File:Animas River spill 2015-08-06.JPG
The Animas River between Silverton and Durango within 24 hours of the spill. The river turned yellow from the oxidation of dissolved iron in the escaped wastewater.[1]
Date August 5, 2015 (2015-08-05)
Location Gold King Mine
Silverton, Colorado, United States
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Cause Accidental wastewater release, approx. 3 million US gal (11 ML)
Participants Environmental Protection Agency
Outcome River closures (until about Aug 17 with ongoing tests)
Ongoing water supply & irrigation issues
Waterways affected Animas and San Juan rivers
States affected Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
Website EPA updates
Gold King Mine is located in Colorado
Gold King Mine
Gold King Mine
Spill site shown within Colorado

The 2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill is a 2015 environmental disaster at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.[2] On August 5, 2015, EPA personnel along with workers for Environmental Restoration LLC (a Fenton, Missouri, company under EPA contract to mitigate pollutants from the closed mine) caused the release of toxic wastewater when attempting to add a tap to the tailing pond for the mine.[3] The maintenance was necessary because local jurisdictions had previously refused Superfund money to fully remediate the regions' derelict mines due to a fear of lost tourism.[citation needed] After the spill, Silverton Board of Trustees and the San Juan County Commission approved a joint resolution seeking Superfund money.[4]

Workers accidentally destroyed the plug holding water trapped inside the mine, overflowing the pond, spilling three million US gallons (11 ML) of mine waste water and tailings, including heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, and other toxic elements, such as arsenic,[5] beryllium,[5] zinc,[5] iron[5] and copper[5] into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River in Colorado.[6] The EPA was criticized for not warning Colorado and New Mexico until the day after the waste water spilled, despite the fact the EPA employee "in charge of Gold King Mine knew of blowout risk."[7]

The EPA has taken responsibility for the incident, and the governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, declared the affected area a disaster zone. The spill affects waterways of municipalities in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah as well as the Navajo Nation. As of August 11, acidic water continued to spill at a rate of 500–700 US gal/min (1.9–2.6 m3/min) while remediation efforts were underway.[8]

Background

Gold mining in the hills around Gold King was the primary income and economy for the region until the last mine closure around Silverton in 1991.[9] The Gold King Mine itself was abandoned in 1923.[10] Prior to the spill, the Upper Animas water basin had become devoid of fish, because of the environmental impact of regional mines such as Gold King.[9] Other plant and animal species were adversely affected in the watershed before the Gold King Mine breach, as well.[9]

File:Gold King Mine Entrance.jpg
Entrance to Gold King Mine from EPA site management web site. This is the adit known as Gold King 7 Level.

Many abandoned mines throughout Colorado are also known to have problems with acid mine drainage.[11] The chemical processes involved in acid mine drainage are common around the world where subsurface mining exposes metal sulfide minerals such as pyrite to water and air, this water must be carefully managed to prevent harm to riparian ecology. At the time of the accident, the EPA was working at the Gold King Mine to stem the leaking mine water going into Cement Creek. Water was accumulating behind a plug at the mine's entrance, and they planned to add pipes that would allow the slow release and treatment of that water before it was backed up enough to blow out. Unknown to the crew, the mine tunnel behind the plug was already full of pressurized water that burst through the plug soon after excavation began.

In the 1990s, sections of the Animas had been nominated by the EPA as a Superfund site for clean-up of pollutants from the Gold King Mine and other mining operations along the river, but lack of community support prevented its listing, thus only allowing the EPA to do minor work to abate environmental impacts of the mine.[12] Locals had feared that the label of a Superfund site would reduce the tourism in the area, the largest remaining source of income left in the region after the closure of the metal mines.[9][13]

Prior reclamation

The Gold King's adits were dry for most of the mine's recent history, as the area was being drained from below by the Sunnyside Mine's American Tunnel. Sunnyside Mine closed in 1991. As part of a reclamation plan, the American Tunnel was sealed up in 1996. In the absence of drainage, by 2002 a new discharge of particularly contaminated water had began to flow from the Gold King Level 7 adit. Flow there increased again after the nearby Mogul Mine was sealed by its owners in 2003. In 2006, a spot measurement of flow from this adit showed a peak of 314 gallons per minute, although the significance of this figure is unclear since flow was not being logged continuously.[14]:17-22 By this time the Gold King was considered one of the worst acid mine drainage sites in Colorado. In 2009, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS) plugged all four Gold King Mine portals by stuffing them with old mine backfill; drainage pipes were installed to prevent water from ponding behind the entrance. This work was complicated by partial collapse of the mine tunnel near the entrance. It was noted that the drainage system might not be sufficient to prevent a future blowout.[14]:35

DRMS asked the EPA to reopen and stabilize the Gold King 7 adit in 2014.[14]:35 It had been reported that no maintenance on the existing drainage system had been performed since it was installed in 2009. It was also noted that flow from the drains had decreased from 112 gpm to 12.6 gpm between August 25, 2014, and September 11, 2014. The cause was of this decrease was unknown but attributed to seasonal variation.[14]:35 While excavating the opening, seepage was seen at six feet above the bottom of the tunnel, this was thought to mean that there was six feet of water backed up in the tunnel. Excavation at the entrance was postponed until 2015, so that a pond large enough to treat that volume of water could be constructed.[14]:36

The blowout

The EPA returned to continue the work in July 2015. They found that a landslide had covered the drainage pipes.[14]:42 When this was cleared, seepage was again observed at a level about 6 feet above the bottom of the mine entrance, which they once again took to be the level of pooled water behind the plug.[14]:46 They planned to excavate the entrance beginning from the level of the top of the mine tunnel down to what they took to be the top of the water, insert a pipe through that clearance, and drain the pooled water.[14]:47-52 DRMS and the EPA discussed the plan and came to an agreement. Critically, they had misjudged the level of the water in the tunnel. At around 10:51 AM on August 5, the backhoe operator saw a spurt of clear water spray about 2 ft out of a fracture in the wall of the plug, indicating that the mine tunnel was full of pressurized[note 1] water. Failure of the plug and uncontrolled release happened within minutes.[14]:52-59 The torrent of water also washed out the access road to the site on its way to Cement Creek.[14]:60

The EPA had considered drilling into the mine from above in order to measure the water level directly before beginning excavation at the entrance, as was done at nearby mines in 2011. Had they done so, the plan would have been changed and the disaster would not have occurred.[14]:2 Operating mines have been required to do this since a fatal mine flood in 1911.[14]:A-4

EPA risk awareness

Through a FOIA request, Associated Press obtained EPA files indicating that U.S. government officials "knew of ‘blowout’ risk for tainted water at mine" which could result from the EPA's intervention.[15] The information was known to EPA authorities through a June 2014 work order that read "Conditions may exist that could result in a blowout of the blockages and cause a release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters and sediment from inside the mine, which contain concentrated heavy metals" and through a May 2015 action plan for the mine that "also noted the potential for a blowout."[15] An EPA spokeswoman was not able to state what precautions the EPA took against the warnings.[15]

On February 11, 2016, the Denver Post reported that Hays Griswold, the EPA employee in charge of the Gold King mine, wrote in an e-mail to other EPA officials "that he personally knew the blockage "could be holding back a lot of water and I believe the others in the group knew as well.""[16] The Post added: "Griswold's e-mail appears directly to contradict those findings and statements he made to The Denver Post in the days after the disaster, when he claimed "nobody expected (the acid water backed up in the mine) to be that high.[17]""

Environmental impact

A map of the San Juan River watershed, which drains into the Colorado river, showing the northern tributary of the Animas River

The Animas River was closed to recreation until August 14.[18] During the closure county officials warned river visitors to stay out of the water.[19] Residents with wells in floodplains were told to have their water tested before drinking it or bathing in it. People were told to avoid contact with the river, including by their pets, that farmed animals should not be allowed to drink the water and people should not catch fish in the river. The Navajo Nation Commission on Emergency Management issued a state of emergency declaration in response to the spill.[20][note 2]

People living along the Animas and San Juan rivers were advised to have their water tested before using it for cooking, drinking, or bathing. The spill also was expected to cause major problems for farmers and ranchers who rely on the rivers for their livelihoods.[24]

The long-term impacts of the spill are unknown, as sedimentation is expected to dilute the pollutants as the spill cloud moves downstream.[25] The acid mine drainage temporarily changed the color of the river to orange.[26]

By August 7, the waste reached Aztec, New Mexico, then the next day, it reached the city of Farmington, the largest municipality affected by the disaster. By August 10, the waste had reached the San Juan River in New Mexico and Shiprock (part of the Navajo Nation), with no evidence to that date of human injury or wildlife die-off. The heavy metals appeared to be settling to the bottom of the river because largely, they are insoluble unless the entire river becomes very acidic.[12] The waste was initially expected to reach Lake Powell by August 12,[6] and arrived on August 14. It was expected to pass through the lake within two weeks. The Utah Division of Water Quality said the remaining contaminants will be diluted to a point where there will be no danger to users beyond that point.[27] By August 11, pollutant levels at Durango returned to pre-incident levels.[8] On August 12, the leading edge of the plume was no longer visible due to dilution and sediment levels in the river.[28] The discharge rate of waste water at Gold King Mine was 610 gallons per minute as of August 12.[29]

Heavy metals

The EPA reported, August 10, 2015, that levels of six metals were above limits allowed by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for domestic water. The department requires municipalities to cease to use water when the levels in it exceed the limits. Some metals were found at hundreds of times their limits, e.g. lead 100 times the limit, iron 326 times the limit. The measurement was made 15 miles (24 km) upstream from Durango.[5]

Emergency tailing ponds constructed in response to the 2015 Gold King Mine Spill, pictured on August 7

Government response

The EPA has taken responsibility for the incident.[6] Although the river turned a bright orange-yellow soon after the release, the EPA failed to notify local residents of the spill for more than 24 hours. Press and local officials sharply criticized the EPA for this slow response.[9] The Associated Press reported, 17 days after the spill: "In the wake of the spill, it has typically taken days to get any detailed response from the agency, if at all."[30]

On August 8, the governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper declared a disaster,[5] as did the Navajo Nation.[31]

On August 11, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency in her state after viewing the affected river from a helicopter, and said her administration was ready to seek legal action against the EPA.[32]

Multiple municipalities and jurisdictions along the course of the river, including the Navajo Nation, stopped drawing drinking water from the Animas River because of the contamination by heavy metals.[25] The Navajo Nation President, Russell Begaye, advised his people with livestock and farming not to sign a form from the EPA saying that the Environmental Protection Agency is not responsible for the damage to crops and livestock.[33] Despite assurances of safety from both the U.S. EPA and the Navajo Nation EPA, farmers of the Navajo Nation on August 22 voted unanimously to refrain from using water from the Animas River for one year, overruling president Russell Begaye, who had planned to announce the reopening of irrigation canals.[34]

Following the spill, the local government of Silverton decided to accept Superfund money to fully remediate the mine.[4] The Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) rejected a request by the Navajo Nation to appoint a disaster-recovery coordinator.[31]

Impact on the Navajo Nation

The impact of the Gold King Mine spill on the Navajo Nation has included damage to their crops, home gardens, and cattle herds. The Navajo Nation ceased irrigating their crops from the San Juan River on August 7, 2015. While San Juan County in New Mexico lifted the ban on water from the San Juan River on August 15, 2015, the President of the Navajo Nation, Russell Begaye, who had ongoing concerns about the water’s safety, didn’t lift the Navajo Nation’s ban until August 21, 2015, once the Navajo Nation’s EPA had completed their testing of the water.[35] During this time, the EPA had water delivered to the Navajo Nation.

An estimated 2,000 Navajo farmers and ranchers were affected directly by the closing of the canals after the spill. While water was trucked into the area to help water fields, there were home gardens and some remote farms that didn’t receive any assistance.[36]

The EPA and the Navajo Nation are still disputing how to fairly compensate the Navajo for the damage caused by the spill. As of April 22, 2016, the Navajo Nation has been compensated a total of $150,000 by the EPA, according to testimony at hearings of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. According to President Begaye, this is only 8% of the costs incurred by the Navajo Nation. According to Senator John McCain, the Navajo Nation could incur up to $335 million in costs related to the spill.

See also


Notes

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References

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External links


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