Emergency declared over Colorado mine spill
DENVER (AP) — The latest in the Colorado mine spill (all times local):
1:40 p.m.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has issued a disaster declaration after millions of gallons of contaminated water spilled from a mine into the Animas River and was making its way to Lake Powell in Utah.
The declaration on Monday releases $500,000 to assist businesses and towns affected by the 3-million-gallon spill that contains heavy metals including lead and arsenic.
It also helps pay for water quality sampling by the state, assessing impacts on fish and wildlife, and any possible cleanup.
Hickenlooper directed state agencies to seek federal funds or low-interest loans to help entities affected by the spill.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has yet to say if the metals pose a threat to human health, frustrating residents in Colorado and downstream in New Mexico and Utah.
On Wednesday, an EPA-supervised cleanup crew accidentally breached a debris dam that had formed inside Colorado's Gold King Mine, which has been inactive since 1923.
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1:15 p.m.
Farms along the Animas and San Juan river valleys in New Mexico have no water to irrigate their crops after a massive spill from a closed Colorado mine.
A family farm in Cedar Hill, New Mexico, that serves as many as 3,000 customers in the Four Corners region has been without water since some 3 million gallons of contaminated water spilled from the Gold King Mine last week.
D'rese Sutherland says if it doesn't rain by the weekend, 80 acres of chile, pumpkins and other produce will be in jeopardy at Sutherland Farms.
Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday, asking that the agency develop a comprehensive plan for addressing those communities, farms and ranches that are without water.
The letter states the lack of water is already taking a toll on residents and their livelihoods.
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12:30 p.m.
Colorado authorities say there are no reports yet of harm to wildlife in that state five days after the release of millions of gallons of heavy metal-laden wastewater from a mine into the Animas River.
The state's Parks and Wildlife agency said Monday it had inserted cages with more than 100 fingerling trout into the river in southwest Colorado near Durango.
The fish are sensitive to changes in water quality. As of Monday, only one fish had died, but the agency said it didn't know if that was because of the metals in the water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has yet to say if the metals, which include lead and arsenic, pose a threat to human health, frustrating residents and state and local officials in Colorado and downstream in New Mexico and Utah.
About 3 million gallons of wastewater from Colorado's Gold King Mine began spilling on Wednesday when an EPA-supervised cleanup crew accidentally breached a debris dam that had formed inside the mine.
The mine has been inactive since 1923.
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12:05 p.m.
Tribal officials with the Navajo Nation have declared an emergency as a massive plume of contaminated wastewater from an abandoned Colorado mine flows downstream toward Lake Powell, which supplies much of the water to the Southwest.
State environment officials in New Mexico and Utah say the plume is passing through the Navajo Nation and headed toward Montezuma Creek near the town of Bluff, a tourist destination.
Some drinking water systems on the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, have shut down their intake systems and stopped diverting water from the San Juan River.
Drinking water was being hauled to some communities.
Navajo President Russell Begaye says the tribe is frustrated with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and he plans to take legal action. An EPA supervised crew has been blamed for causing the spill while attempting to clean up the area.