Originally published August 30 2015
EPA now a top polluter in America, unleashing a toxic spill full of heavy metals and shutting down the water supply for millions
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Had it been done by a private company – say, an oil company or via fracking – the massive toxic contamination of a major U.S. river system would have been front-page news for weeks in the environmentally-conscious liberal mainstream media.
However, when a government agency causes such damage – especially an agency that is supposed to protect the environment and one that left-wing presidents like Barack Obama like to use as a way to punish and regulate "politically incorrect" companies and industries – well, then, the coverage by the MSM is much different and much less shrill... if you can find any coverage at all.
This hypocrisy was noted recently by The Washington Times. The paper reported that the political fallout from the spill, which emanated from Colorado's Gold King Mine and unleashed three million gallons of highly toxic yellow-orange water, intensified among key constituencies who view the Obama regime's handling of the emergency hypocritically.
Administration critics say that the White House has managed to dodge serious inquiry about the spill from the loyalist press corps, whose members have been well-conditioned to press the administration on certain issues but avoid others in order to maintain access.
Muted response
The credibility of the EPA, which has been used as a regulatory nightstick against American families and businesses and through which Obama plans to issue economically crippling new "climate change" rules, is now badly damaged.
The Times noted:
Rather than express outrage as it has done in the wake of previous environmental disasters, the White House would not comment on the spill and instead directed all questions to the embattled EPA.
Nevertheless, the agency has come under fire from outside the administration after one of its contractors breached a dam at the mine in early August, sending toxic flow into the Animas River. Since then, the contaminated water has flowed into several states downstream including New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. After initially covering up the amount of toxic water that escaped the breach, the EPA was eventually forced to admit the total exceeded three million gallons – far more than the initial claim of just one million gallon.
The toxic water is said to contain lead, arsenic and other heavy metals, the Times reported.
No accountability, no responsibility
While not yet comparable in magnitude as far as anyone is yet able to determine, the Animas River spill is nevertheless similar in some ways to oil giant BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That incident led President Obama to comment that he was looking for someone's "a— to kick" in response. It also prompted him to direct his Interior Secretary at the time, Ken Salazar, to promise to keep his "boot on the neck" of the oil giant.
This time around, because a federal environmental agency was to blame, the talk has been extremely muted – a clear double standard.
"Their response has been terrible. They've hedged the truth, if you will, which puts people in jeopardy because it turns out it's much worse. They're doing precisely the sorts of things they level charges at other people for doing," Dan Kish, senior vice president for policy at the conservative Institute for Energy Research, told the Times.
"It's ironic in a lot of ways because, typically, when big, iconic things happen like this, they spend a huge amount of time trying to throw gasoline on the fire," Kish added. "They always tell us they're right, everybody is wrong. In this particular case, they've got their hands full."
So far, no one at the EPA has been held to account, fired or otherwise disciplined by the administration.
Sources include:
WashingtonTimes.com
NaturalNews.com
CNN.com
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