A spill at the abandoned Gold King Mine in Colorado prompted a release of orange-colored waste into the river systems that lead to the Southern Ute Reservation, the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation and the Navajo Nation. Photo from Navajo Nation OPVP Russell Begaye And Jonathan Nez / Facebook
The Obama administration is still facing fire for its response to the Gold King Mine disaster that polluted the waters on three reservations last year. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, issued two subpoenas to the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday. He gave the agencies until 5pm on February 26 to provide documents related to the August 2015 disaster. “The Department of the Interior has been actively working to withhold information from the Committee that members on both sides of the aisle are seeking. It’s time to come clean," Bishop said in a press release. The spill at the abandoned Gold Kine Mine in Colorado caused at least three million gallons of toxic waste to enter the water system. The pollution traveled through the reservations of the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Colorado before going through the New Mexico portion of the Navajo Nation. Tribal leaders faulted the Obama administration, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency, which was overseeing operations at the mine, for not working with them more closely during and after the disaster. Get the Story:
House panel issues subpoenas on Colo. mine waste spill (AP 2/18)
Subpoenas issued for reports on Gold King Mine spill (The Durango Herald 2/19)
Interior secretary subpoenaed in probe of Gold King Mine spill report (The Denver Post 2/19)
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