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    sui_generisHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:40pm

    To be fair, the EPA’s fuckup was an accident.

    The mine that actually produced all that waste they were trying to clean up? Guessing they created it on purpose, and left it there.

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      Kaidogsui_generis
      8/10/15 9:44pm

      The mine ceased operations in 1923. It was abandoned.

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      sui_generisKaidog
      8/10/15 9:45pm

      Not sure how that’s relevant...? Were mines “accidental” in the 1920s...?

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    PeteRRHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:34pm

    “We’re the government and we’re here to help you.”

    Government is something we do together.

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      Volante3192PeteRR
      8/10/15 9:45pm

      Because the first and foremost thought at the top of every corporation is “How can we leave this planet in a better condition than when we joined it?”

      Or did your mother clean up after every mess you made?

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      PeteRRVolante3192
      8/10/15 9:47pm

      They do now. Mostly because the above spill perpetrator sues and fines them for doing dumb shit like releasing water contaminated by toxins and heavy minerals.

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    KaidogHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:41pm

    For those of you who don’t live in the Four Corners region, it’s really hard to overstate the magnitude of this disaster. The Animas/San Juan ecosystem is a beautiful and fragile high-desert riparian area with a remarkable array of flora and fauna. It’s one of the treasures of the Colorado Plateau... and the waters drain directly into the Colorado River, headed straight for Lake Powell. The repercussions are staggering for the entire desert Southwest.

    The EPA was trying to clean up a century-old mining site near Silverton. I don’t know anything about the site nor the cleanup process, so I won’t second-guess the on-site decision making. But I still want to grab the person responsible for digging around the area and scream, “WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING BRINGING HEAVY EQUIPMENT UP THERE???

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      KittyReavenKaidog
      8/10/15 9:58pm

      I’m just wondering how you accidentally send 3 million gallons of water to the wrong place. That’s like the time my mom shipped all the presents to the wrong family members and people were confused.

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      Common_VoterKaidog
      8/10/15 10:01pm

      My next project is going to be seeing if Bing Maps does dating of their satellite views. Cement Creek which drained into the Animas at Silverton appears to be the creek that fed the disaster. It was already orange on Bing earlier this week, now the entire Colorado gets to enjoy what Silverton’s apparently been enjoying for some time now. Probably from before there even was that hotbed of left-wing lunacy they call the EPA.

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    Sean BrodyHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:41pm

    That rock in the top middle ain’t happy

    Cool Instagram filter though

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      KaidogSean Brody
      8/10/15 9:43pm

      I can’t quite believe these people were out there on that water. Of course, the EPA didn’t notify New Mexico until nearly twenty-four hours after the disaster had taken place. Fucking hell.

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      GregSamsaSean Brody
      8/10/15 9:50pm

      I kind of miss drinking Tang on a hot summer’s day.

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    FrancoisHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:38pm

    Jeez Louise, the mining industry is doing a great job in screwing with the environment, they don’t need the feds to assist them.

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      Meanwhile, ElsewhereFrancois
      8/10/15 9:42pm

      Well it was a superfund site, so the industry just left it there for the taxpayers (feds) to clean up.

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      Volante3192Francois
      8/10/15 9:50pm

      The mine was regularly leaking out in the first place.

      http://gizmodo.com/a-acid-spillin…

      The long-abandoned mine had a collapsed entrance which had been known to release contaminated water into a nearby creek, so a crew of workers was installing a pipe to divert the flow. As they dug a hole they realized the wastewater level in the mine was higher than they thought. A wall of yellow-orange sludge—1,200 gallons per minute—began flowing downstream.

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    Shut Up!Hudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:57pm

    Here comes the Republican’s war cry to defund and dissolve the EPA.

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      SulaymanFShut Up!
      8/10/15 10:16pm

      Fox News must be cheering about this

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      NameChangedShut Up!
      8/10/15 10:38pm

      Yup. Nearly every doofus in my FB feed is blaming this on “Obama’s EPA.” It's maddening.

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    gawkophileHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:48pm

    While an EPA worker/contractor was the immediate cause of this spill, it is beyond stupid to blame it on “government.” Some mining operator, having extracted every last penny of value from this land, declared bankruptcy and left a fucked up toxic mess - walking away with millions and leaving taxpayers on the hook for cleanup. This is one of 22,000 such abandoned mines in Colorado and is typical behavior from the “job creators” who destroy communities, clean air and water, and everything else in their paths out of reckless, immoral, narcissistic greed. The people who abandoned this mine should be in prison but, instead, they’re having a beach drink somewhere or a whisky on an unspoiled spread in Montana or Wyoming. Eat the rich.

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      plights & gripes as bad as achillesgawkophile
      8/10/15 9:58pm

      While I agree with the sentiment, the people who abandoned this mine abandoned it almost 100 years ago, so probably they’re not slurping daiquiris in Bozeman. Probably they’re dead.

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      gawkophileplights & gripes as bad as achilles
      8/11/15 1:21pm

      In my quick research last night I thought I had read 1991, but I guess per Wikipedia that was when “the last mine in the area” closed. Either way, shit like this happens damn near every day. I’m a West Virginian by birth, so I take this shit personally (which isn’t to imply that everyone shouldn’t, simply that most people are blind to the devastation).

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    stacyinbeanHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:33pm
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      lalaburnsstacyinbean
      8/10/15 9:42pm

      I’m starring this but also weeping.

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      selmabouvierterwilligerhutzmcclurestacyinbean
      8/10/15 9:57pm

      Lisa: It could be anything! It could be a mutant from the nuclear plant.

      Mr. Burns: Oh, fiddle faddle, everyone knows our mutants have flippers. Oops, I’ve said too much. Smithers, use the amnesia ray.

      Smithers: You mean the revolver, sir?

      Mr. Burns: Precisely. Be sure to wipe your own memory clear when you’re finished.

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    TerryHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 9:32pm

    You mean the free market didn’t fix it?

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      CharlieKellyKingofTheRatsTerry
      8/10/15 9:36pm

      The EPA isn't the free market.

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      GoBackItsATrapCharlieKellyKingofTheRats
      8/11/15 12:03pm

      The contractor working for the EPA is in it to make money...

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    crouching tigerHudson Hongo
    8/10/15 10:20pm

    How do we know this was actually the EPA, and not a Koch-funded false flag operation designed to make the EPA look incompetent?!!1!

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      K-Crocrouching tiger
      8/11/15 9:38am

      Private contractor did this (so yeah, maybe Koch...)
      “a company working on behalf of the EPA breached...”

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