Gold mine waste heads toward Navajo lands

Jacob Nierenberg

Jacob Nierenberg Jan 12, 2018

Jan 12, 2018

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>Gold mine waste heads toward Navajo lands</h1>
                <h2><p>An environmental catastrophe is underway in southwestern Colorado. Last week, a staggering 3 million gallons of contaminated water—three times what CNN initially reported—leaked out of the Gold King Mine into the Animas River, which has since turned a sickly mustard color. Evidently, the EPA, which normally cleans up</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/jacob-nierenberg-crosscut-com/">Jacob Nierenberg</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>An environmental catastrophe is underway in southwestern Colorado. Last week, a staggering 3 million gallons of contaminated water—<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/us/colorado-epa-mine-river-spill/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">three times what <em>CNN</em> initially reported</a>—leaked out of the Gold King Mine into the Animas River, which has since turned a sickly mustard color. Evidently, the EPA, which normally cleans up this type of disaster, accidentally caused it in the process of attempting to pump the water out of the mine, and now a cloud of toxic metals, such as lead and arsenic, is swiftly moving down the river. The Animas also flows through Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, and According to <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/09/navajo-nation-epa-spill/31384515/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">two</a> USA Today <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/10/navajo-nation-epa-mine-wastewater-spill/31399517/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">stories</a>, the incident is expected to hit the Navajo Nation the hardest; many Navajo settlements lie along the river, which the Nation relies on for farming. If a solution is not found fast, many will face a devastating loss of crops and livestock.</p>
          </article>

An environmental catastrophe is underway in southwestern Colorado. Last week, a staggering 3 million gallons of contaminated water—three times what CNN initially reported—leaked out of the Gold King Mine into the Animas River, which has since turned a sickly mustard color. Evidently, the EPA, which normally cleans up this type of disaster, accidentally caused it in the process of attempting to pump the water out of the mine, and now a cloud of toxic metals, such as lead and arsenic, is swiftly moving down the river. The Animas also flows through Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, and According to two USA Today stories, the incident is expected to hit the Navajo Nation the hardest; many Navajo settlements lie along the river, which the Nation relies on for farming. If a solution is not found fast, many will face a devastating loss of crops and livestock.

Our members' donations make local journalism happen.

Support once for $1

Support monthly for $7

Cascade PBS Passport
Mossback members-only newsletter
Monthly Viewer Guide

Support monthly for $25

Invitation to quarterly news and original programming video conference
Annual in-person meet-up with news & programming teams
Special event perks (reduced price or free tickets, cocktails, etc.)

Continue

By Jacob Nierenberg

Jacob Nierenberg is an editorial intern at Crosscut. He has lived in Washington for nearly all of his life, and still proudly identifies with the Pacific Northwest despite his relocation to Stanford U