[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13751]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             GOLD KING MINE

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, early last month the negligence of the 
Environmental Protection Agency caused the release of over 3 million 
gallons of wastewater at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, 
causing arguably the biggest environmental disaster of this year.
  While over the congressional August work period, I was able to visit 
the spill site and, with elected officials, was able to view it for 
myself. As you can see, there is still considerable effluent coming out 
of the mouth of that mine as of 2 weeks ago.
  Mr. Speaker, I will just ask: Has anyone been fired? Has anyone been 
held accountable at the Environmental Protection Agency for this 
disaster? No, they have not.
  What would have happened had a private company been responsible for a 
disaster of this order of magnitude? I shudder to think where those 
people in charge of that company would be today.
  The EPA did not follow its own procedures. It did not have proper 
communications equipment at the site of the disaster. They had no 
satellite phone. They had no radio.
  As a consequence, they did not notify local officials until a day 
later of what had occurred at the mine. They have also refused to 
answer questions about the potential health risks in the polluted water 
to humans and animals downriver.
  The long-term effects of the EPA's neglect will be unknown, but I 
submit they will be significant for years to come.

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