US Government declines to prosecute government worker in major pollution case that affected three states

[philip964]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/natio ... mine-spill_

Move along, no harm done, nothing to see here. Pollution is only serious when someone else does it. George Bush's fault. Maybe a tape of Trump from 2005 saying it was ok.

[bblhd672]

And from the environmentalists "crickets". If this had happened under a Republican administration there would be screaming and wailing from all corners.

There would be vigorous prosecution if a rancher built a pond on his property though.

Fascists!

[Jusme]

Why is the worker unnamed? Does he have relatives in high government positions? Maybe the DOJ? Homeland Security? The ATFE? Perhaps on a Democratic candidates elections staff?

[Skiprr]

An EPA-led cleanup team inadvertently triggered the Aug. 5, 2015, spill while doing work at the Gold King mine. The 3-million-gallon blowout tainted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah with toxic heavy metals.

Two criminal statutes violated by the EPA employee, yet the Justice Department decides not to prosecute. Something tells me I've heard the phrases "Justice Department" and "will not prosecute" in the same sentence before.

Officials at the watchdog arm of the EPA declined to elaborate on the possible charges, but three high-ranking House Republicans said the inspector general’s office told them in a briefing Tuesday that they had found evidence of criminal wrongdoing on both statutes and had referred the findings to federal prosecutors.

However, the attorney general’s office on the same day declined to prosecute the charges, according to a letter sent Wednesday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch from three House Republicans, including Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Yeah; I have so loved living in the Obama administration.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-dep ... 1476322057

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Gold ... ater_spill

[The Annoyed Man]

Why is the worker unnamed? Does he have relatives in high government positions? Maybe the DOJ? Homeland Security? The ATFE? Perhaps on a Democratic candidates elections staff?

It's because SHE is well connected.....

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/epa ... -disaster/

EPA knew of blowout risk ahead of Colorado mine accident

BY MICHAEL BIESECKER, ASSOCIATED PRESS AND MATTHEW BROWN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 22, 2015 at 2:41 PM EDT

WASHINGTON — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency managers were aware of the potential for a catastrophic “blowout” at an inactive Colorado mine that could release large volumes of wastewater laced with toxic heavy metals, according to documents released by the agency.

EPA released the documents following prodding from The Associated Press and other media organizations.

........

Among the documents is a June 2014 work order for a planned cleanup that noted that the old mine had not been accessible since 1995, when the entrance partially collapsed. The plan appears to have been produced by Environmental Restoration, a private contractor working for EPA.

“This condition has likely caused impounding of water behind the collapse,” the report says. “Conditions may exist that could result in a blowout of the blockages and cause a release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters and sediment from inside the mine, which contain concentrated heavy metals.”

A subsequent May 2015 action plan for the mine also notes the potential for a blowout.

.............

Communication problems have persisted in the spill’s aftermath, according to U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

“Weeks after the spill, families and businesses who depend on the Animas River continue to deal with uncertainty and limited information,” Smith said Friday, as he called for EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to appear before his committee for a hearing scheduled next month. “The EPA has an obligation to be forthcoming about what went wrong.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_McCarthy

On March 4, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as head of the EPA.[3] Confirmation hearings started April 11, 2013.[4] On July 18, 2013, she was confirmed after a record 136-day confirmation fight, becoming the face of Obama's global warming/climate change initiative.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/08/10/ ... -involved/

The EPA has not only claimed responsibility for the spill, but is claiming responsibility for a slow response as well. The EPA says now that the spill was far faster, and far larger than they initially assumed.

The EPA did not have to be on site, to begin with, it seems. The region has a coalition of local organizations called the Animas River Stakeholders Group who have worked together since 1994 to address pollution coming out of nearby mines. The Gold King mine is widely known to be one of the most polluted, leaking around 50 to 250 gallons of waste water per minute. While the group had pushed to find the source of the leak and stem it from there, the EPA went ahead with the project apart from the group, and seemingly without local expertise.

If you ever hear someone say "We're from the gov't and we're here to help", run like H.E.Double Hockey Sticks.

[Jusme]

Why is the worker unnamed? Does he have relatives in high government positions? Maybe the DOJ? Homeland Security? The ATFE? Perhaps on a Democratic candidates elections staff?

It's because SHE is well connected.....

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/epa ... -disaster/

EPA knew of blowout risk ahead of Colorado mine accident

BY MICHAEL BIESECKER, ASSOCIATED PRESS AND MATTHEW BROWN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 22, 2015 at 2:41 PM EDT

WASHINGTON — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency managers were aware of the potential for a catastrophic “blowout” at an inactive Colorado mine that could release large volumes of wastewater laced with toxic heavy metals, according to documents released by the agency.

EPA released the documents following prodding from The Associated Press and other media organizations.

........

Among the documents is a June 2014 work order for a planned cleanup that noted that the old mine had not been accessible since 1995, when the entrance partially collapsed. The plan appears to have been produced by Environmental Restoration, a private contractor working for EPA.

“This condition has likely caused impounding of water behind the collapse,” the report says. “Conditions may exist that could result in a blowout of the blockages and cause a release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters and sediment from inside the mine, which contain concentrated heavy metals.”

A subsequent May 2015 action plan for the mine also notes the potential for a blowout.

.............

Communication problems have persisted in the spill’s aftermath, according to U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

“Weeks after the spill, families and businesses who depend on the Animas River continue to deal with uncertainty and limited information,” Smith said Friday, as he called for EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to appear before his committee for a hearing scheduled next month. “The EPA has an obligation to be forthcoming about what went wrong.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_McCarthy

On March 4, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as head of the EPA.[3] Confirmation hearings started April 11, 2013.[4] On July 18, 2013, she was confirmed after a record 136-day confirmation fight, becoming the face of Obama's global warming/climate change initiative.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/08/10/ ... -involved/

The EPA has not only claimed responsibility for the spill, but is claiming responsibility for a slow response as well. The EPA says now that the spill was far faster, and far larger than they initially assumed.

The EPA did not have to be on site, to begin with, it seems. The region has a coalition of local organizations called the Animas River Stakeholders Group who have worked together since 1994 to address pollution coming out of nearby mines. The Gold King mine is widely known to be one of the most polluted, leaking around 50 to 250 gallons of waste water per minute. While the group had pushed to find the source of the leak and stem it from there, the EPA went ahead with the project apart from the group, and seemingly without local expertise.

If you ever hear someone say "We're from the gov't and we're here to help", run like H.E.Double Hockey Sticks.

I don't know if the plan was to appoint people, less competent than him (which is a difficult task) , to make him "appear" more competent, or just appoint people so he can have another scapegoat, to keep the flying fecal matter from landing on him.