In early August, the EPA accidentally released over three million gallons of toxic waste water into one of America’s most scenic river systems—a tributary of the Animas River near Durango, Colorado. The EPA knew for over a year the risk involved in the cleanup, yet not one EPA employee is going to face criminal charges. Federal law protects EPA employees, even though staff at the abandoned mine failed to accurately gauge the water pressure within the mine. Americans will have to find comfort that EPA administrator Gina McCarthy is “absolutely, deeply sorry this ever happened.”
Bill Wehrum, a former administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, writes in the WSJ, “The agency (EPA) often criminalizes actions that are nothing more than accidents, many far less damaging to the environment than the Animas River disaster.” There is a serious problem within the EPA in how it conducts business. Read more from Mr. Wehrum here.
