The San Juan Citizens Alliance met Wednesday night to figure out how to take control of the proposed Durango Superfund Site in Silverton, and cried that they, and not their neighbors upstream are the real victims.

The greenies stomped their little Birkenstocks and demanded the lead role in begging the EPA to clean up the mess it caused, because it’s always about them.

The Durango Herald reports with a straight face:

“San Juan County’s concerns are speculative,” said La Plata County resident Frank Lockwood. “Our concerns are not speculative. Ours are real. We’ve defined them economically, and I think our government officials should move forward.”

And this:

“We use the water for irrigation, so we have a personal stake in this,” said Clint Kearns, who lives in Hermosa. “We rely on the water as much or more as they do. So it would be really useful for Durango and La Plata County to take the lead.”

Actually, Silverton has some pretty strong reasons to be concerned before unleashing the feds in the backyard. Chief among those, the EPA promised they have no interest in pushing the Superfund into city limits, although that’s exactly where the agency has been conducting testing.

But this doesn’t affect Durango’s existence, so Mayor Dean Brookie issued a missive to Gov. Hickenlooper this week in support of the Durango Superfund Site in Silverton, and plans to meet with the governor on Friday to take the lead.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has been absent during all of the Silverton and San Juan County meetings where officials are weighing the heavy decision of asking the EPA to take over the region. However Bennet staffer John Whitney was at the environmentalists meeting, shock, and predicted that the EPA will get the green flag next week to move in.

Can’t say that we’re surprised, as this is what the EPA and Bennet have wanted all along.