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Thread: Toxic Mine Spill & The Animas River - Any First Hand Reports?

  1. #1
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    Default Toxic Mine Spill & The Animas River - Any First Hand Reports?

    Does anyone have any first hand reports about this mine spill? Do you think it will affect fishing conditions after the spill is cleaned up? http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...ldlife-n407586

  2. #2

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    I fished in the canyon there several years ago, took the train in. Great experience, beautiful place, but fishing was slow. I remember talking with locals who were surprised I caught anything. They said there were lots of rumors about pollution from the mines around Silverton. Sorry, I don't have anything more recent than that. I can't imagine yellow water is good for the brookies though...
    Mike Monahan

  3. #3
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    Fry and parr caught in fish traps submerged in the mustard water seemed to be doing okay. Reports say the levels of arsenic and mercury are relatively low. So maybe no short term harm to the fish. Long term the silt may be a problem.

  4. #4
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    Does "Trust your government. We are here to protect you," sound familiar? The EPA statement claims the water is safe as if this was a natural occurrence. Yet, none of those officials are drinking the water in front of cameras. Curious why city officials say not to drink the water and any down streamer accessing the river has halted drawing off the river for irrigation. Fish can't read nor watch the news. Maybe we will find out how resilient they really are when and if the whole aquatic food chain collapses. The Gold King mine had been oozing this chit for years into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas. The clean up was suppose to remedy the issue. Oops, perhaps a news delay and notification to the downstream recipients will keep folks from talking about it. Yet, it is funny to hear the kayaking and rafting business owner ask how long it will be before he can go back to conducting his business on the river. It use to be a great destination area. Almost positive the disappearance of near by cliff dwellers had nothing to do with this. This mine was almost 100 years old and yet filled with ground water. Open pit mining is now the preferred method for safety considerations of the miners. Tell that to the folks downstream of the Berkeley Pit, in Butte, along the Clark Fork in Montana- one of the largest Superfund cleanup sites to date. Yet, the finger pointing and whining about environmentalists cost these concerns money. Why can't they just extract what they need and leave the tailings and cleanup upon someone else- usually the federal government? Throughout history, man has looked upon the resources and asked how one might profit from what he saw without weighing the consequences of his actions for the following generations of inhabitants nor government intrusion. This was the basis for western expansionism in the United States promoted by an early tobacco farmer turned politician. Too bad if these contaminants are a by product of the wealth extracted from the land. Is this incident just the tip of the iceberg for Colorado?

  5. #5
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    Personally, I'm having a bit of a problem with some of the criticism towards the EPA coming from folks who promote certain practices and/or benefit financially from those who engage in certain practices. If I were them, I'd think very carefully about where blame lies in cases like this - you might easily be made to look very foolish and might be exposed for what you are and why you did what you did or why you voted the way you voted.
    The proponents of the Pebble Mind must cringe every time something like this happens, which is more and more often.

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