Since the EPA took full responsibility for the Animas River spill and pledged to reimburse those affected by their gross negligence, they are now seeking desperately to place blame elsewhere and won’t say whether they’ve forked over a dime in claims.
The AP reported the shifting sands of blame last week, in which the Obama administration tried to blame the Hickenlooper administration for approving the work that led to the spill.
Also, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner dispatched a letter Friday stating that key members of Congress have yet to see a reporting of claims paid to affected individuals since the incident occurred nearly four months ago.
Gardner and Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming asked the EPA to show proof that claims are being paid. The Republicans also want to know if the EPA has fired anyone for the spill.
“If EPA has not terminated employment, how does EPA intend to hold those individuals accountable?” the lawmakers said in the letter.
Now that the EPA no longer is taking full responsibility and shifting blame to Colorado officials, Rep. U.S. Scott Tipton is demanding a new investigation that is independent of the federal agencies involved, reports the Durango Herald.
“The conflicting information is deeply troubling, and raises numerous concerns that the federal government’s investigations are incomplete at best, and at worst inaccurate, perhaps even deliberately so,” Tipton said.
The EPA has a history of hiding their actions in the Gold King mine cleanup. The agency didn’t even bother to tell New Mexico that the spill was headed their way, and the only reason Colorado officials knew when it happened, is because they were on site, but not for the reasons the EPA claims.
State officials say they were at the mine “because an EPA official at the scene wanted to talk to them about future work there, not the work going on that day.”
We agree with Tipton. There needs to be a new investigation, independent of the federal agencies involved, to determine the EPA’s responsibility that those bureaucrats now dispute.