It’s been nine months since the EPA mucked up the Gold King Mine causing untold environmental contamination and millions of dollars in damages.
Nine months since EPA Chief Gina McCarthy pledged to take responsibility and pay residents financial restitution.
She done neither.
Attorney General Cynthia Coffman sent a gentle reminder to the EPA on March 15 that they owe Coloradans $5 million, but the only reply she’s gotten is crickets.
“It’s easy to admit fault,” Coffman said. “It’s much harder to take responsibility and pay for the consequences of your actions.”
Coffman told the Durango Herald she hasn’t ruled out suing the federal agency, while New Mexico and Utah have already put Colorado and the EPA on notice they intend to sue us all.
The Herald also seems to think that the EPA has admitted fault in the disaster, though that’s not entirely true. The agency is still insisting that Colorado is to blame too, and the resulting investigation in Washington was nothing but a cover-up that declined to say who was at fault.
That would certainly explain why the EPA has refused to pay Coloradans the $5 million they owe, because they have no intention of taking the blame.
It might be time for Coffman to start taking depositions and move the state forward in a separate lawsuit against the EPA.