EPA spill turns Animas River in Colorado a toxic orange - CNN.com
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According to the EPA, the spill occurred when one of its teams was using heavy equipment to enter the Gold King Mine, a suspended mine near Durango. Instead of entering the mine and beginning the process of pumping and treating the contaminated water inside as planned, the team accidentally caused it to flow into the nearby Animas River. Before the spill, water carrying "metals pollution" was flowing into a holding area outside the mine.
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EPA crew accidentally turns Animas River orange - CNN.com
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According to the EPA, the spill occurred when one of its teams was using heavy equipment to enter the Gold King Mine, a suspended mine near Durango. Instead of entering the mine and beginning the process of pumping and treating the contaminated water inside as planned, the team accidentally caused it to flow into the nearby Animas River. Before the spill, water carrying "metals pollution" was flowing into a holding area outside the mine.
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The longer this story is out there, the fewer details of how it actually happened are in print.
I'm under the impression that there were holding ponds made of earth berms, perhaps similar to the one I pulled off the Internet (see below - unrelated).
Newton Consultants, Inc.
I figure that a bulldozer running along side or on the top of the berm caved in the side and the toxic water (3-million gallons of it) poured out.
That is just a guess.
Does anyone have aerial photos of the incident area?
To be clear, the Gold King Mine is a strip mine and not a hole/cave in a mountain, right?