10 Years After a Mine Spill Turned a Colorado River Yellow, Basin Awaits Wider Cleanup: 'Doing Things Right Takes Time'

10 years after a mine spill turned a Colorado river yellow, basin awaits wider cleanup: 'Doing things right takes time'

Three million gallons of acidic mine drainage flooded into the Animas River basin 10 years ago, turning the southern Colorado river a mustard yellow and making international headlines.

Ten years after a mine spill turned a Colorado river yellow, basin awaits wider cleanup. ‘Doing things right takes time.’

Three million gallons of acidic mine drainage flooded into the Animas River basin 10 years ago, turning the southern Colorado river a mustard yellow and making international headlines. Caused by federal contractors working to treat pollution from the Gold King Mine, the accidental release of water laden with heavy metals prompted the creation of a Superfund site and a reckoning with lingering environmental harms from the area’s mining legacy, in…

Ten years after a mine spill turned the #AnimasRiver yellow, basin awaits wider cleanup. ‘Doing things right takes time.’ — The #Denver Post

This image was taken during the peak outflow from the Gold King Mine spill at 10:57 a.m. Aug. 5, 2015. The waste-rock dump can be seen eroding on the right. Federal investigators placed blame for the blowout squarely on engineering errors made by the Environmental Protection Agency’s-contracted company in a 132-page report released Thursday [October 22, 2015] Click the link to read the article on The Denver Post website (Elise Schmelzer). Here’s…