On Tuesday, for saying water quality in the Animas River had largely returned to what it had been before the EPA spilled 3 million gallons of polluted wastewater into it.
On Wednesday, also said water quality had “returned to pre-event conditions.”
So Hickenlooper was right after all. Then again, why wouldn’t he be willing to rely on the word of state experts who’d been monitoring the pollution?
Yet the EPA behavior should not surprise. It has been the pattern since last week’s toxic release: a leisurely attitude toward informing local communities of the latest developments.
So we welcome Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman’s statement Wednesday that a lawsuit against the EPA is “on the table” and that she’s consulting with her counterparts in New Mexico and Utah regarding the possibility.
If the EPA willingly shoulders responsibility for all the impacts of the spill, then a lawsuit won’t be necessary. But given its performance so far, the attorneys general had best keep their powder dry.
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