Remember when the EPA pledged to be open and honest, and even create a community involvement group so that locals will always know exactly what is going on with the Superfund at Silverton?
Apparently, the EPA does not. Work hasn’t even begun, and already they are hiding whatever it is they are doing.
We found this passage buried in a Bruce Finley story about the retirement of an EPA official, that no one is talking about, either.
Dozens of EPA and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment employees last week began testing water and soil along the Animas. The feds also have been moving heavy equipment above Silverton. Two toxicologists are part of the effort.
EPA officials did not respond to questions about current work. A Denver-based “community involvement coordinator” referred queries to headquarters in Washington, D.C. EPA officials in Washington also did not respond. CDPHE spokesman Warren Smith said the state agency would defer to the EPA. State health officials are involved in work around the mines.
Government transparency — a new oxymoron eight years in the making by the Obama administration.
The retiring official that no one wants to talk about much either is Steve Way, who was vacationing during last year’s Gold King Mine blowout caused by the EPA. Way has apparently come under close scrutiny by congressional investigators, so now two other EPA officials will lead the cleanup effort, one of whom is Joyel Dhieux of Boulder.
The last time we heard from her she was “horrified” to discover that someone had dug a hole in the ground and dumped paint and thinner.
If that’s the worst toxic dump she’s ever had to deal with, then she’s in way over her head to manage an actual Superfund.