House chairman: EPA actions in mine spill ‘inexcusable’

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2015, file photo, People kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colo., in water colored with millions of gallons of mine waste into Cement Creek, which flows into the Animas River. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, made famous from the Oscar-winning movie bearing her name, visited the nation’s largest American Indian reservation on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2015 to see the damage caused by millions of gallons of wastewater that spilled from a Colorado mine. (Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2015, file photo, People kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colo., in water colored with millions of gallons of mine waste into Cement Creek, which flows into the Animas River. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, made famous from the Oscar-winning movie bearing her name, visited the nation’s largest American Indian reservation on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2015 to see the damage caused by millions of gallons of wastewater that spilled from a Colorado mine. (Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

By Associated Press September 9, 2015 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of the House Science Committee says the Environmental Protection Agency’s actions in causing a toxic mine spill that fouled rivers in three Western states were “inexcusable.”

Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas is vowing to hold the agency accountable for its “negligence” in causing the Aug. 5 spill near Silverton, Colorado, and for its “lack of transparency” afterward. The spill tainted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah with heavy metals.

Smith says the EPA took more than 24 hours to inform the public about the seriousness of the spill and initially underestimated the amount of rust-colored sludge released from the inactive Gold King Mine.

Smith adds he was disappointed that EPA chief Gina McCarthy declined to attend a hearing Wednesday, saying: “Perhaps she doesn’t have good answers.”