EPA Officials and Colorado Governor Have Tense Back-and-Forth Over Assessments of the Animas River After Toxic Spill

Based on state testing, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) thinks the Animas River, which was turned a deep shade of yellow last week when about 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater from an inactive mine was accidentally unleashed, is ready to be reopened. But federal officials say not so fast.

The Durango Herald reported a tense exchange at an informal meeting between the governor and officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Colorado governor John Hickenlooper speaks to Megan Graham, left, and Bill Roberts while examining contamination near the Animas River on August 11, 2015 in Durango, Colorado. The Environmental Protection Agency accidentally released approximately three million gallons of wastewater into the Animus from the Gold King mine last week. (Theo Stroomer/Getty Images)

Hickenlooper, citing the Colorado Department of Public Health's findings that heavy metals and pH were back to a normal range in the Animas River, said he'd like to see the river reopened for activities like fishing and boating. Companies that rely on it, such as white water rafting businesses, were forced to close when the water became contaminated with metals in the spill caused by contractors working for the EPA at the Gold King Mine on August 5.

Shaun McGrath, the EPA administrator for Region 8, however, asked the governor to stop making comments about the health of the river, the Durango Herald reported.

"You have to have a couple of days of data to show that you’re actually back to baseline conditions, and we’re not there yet," McGrath said, according to the newspaper.

Hickenlooper's response: "That’s nonsense."

When McGrath said the Hickenlooper was "getting ahead of us to be able to say we have the data that supports the decision" because the EPA's toxicologists had not called him, the governor had a terse response.

"You guys don’t call for days anyway," said Hickenlooper, hitting back at the agency, which has already been criticized for its slow response in this case. "There’s nothing we can do about that. There’s been delay in communication in terms of when information on this went out. The whole thing has been a couple days late."

Pollution turns Colorado’s Animas River orange (Pics: AP, Office of Emergency Management) https://t.co/jSUvm67EF5 pic.twitter.com/fhevYmv5TU

— CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) August 8, 2015

In a video produced by the Durango Herald, Hickenlooper thought said he had a call with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and believes the agency will not make the same mistakes again in terms of communication should a situation like this happen in the future. He also said that the agency plans to update assessments on other inactive mines in the area as well.

Watch the video: