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A spill at an abandoned gold mine turned the Animas River bright orange and made headlines. But the fact is mines just like that one threaten our waterways every day. Sign here to tell President Obama to ban new mines on public land and protect all of our waterways.
Friend,
Colorado's Animas River made international news when it turned bright orange from the disastrous spill of 3 million gallons of polluted water from an abandoned gold mine. Adding insult to injury, the spill was caused by careless Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspectors who were supposed to clean up the mine, not dump its toxic sludge into the water.1
But while the spill and strangely-colored river made headlines, the fact is that hard rock mines regularly threaten our waterways. In fact, 40 percent of headwaters in the western United States have suffered from mining pollution already.2
President Obama is under pressure to respond to the EPA's bungling, and that means we have an opportunity. If we speak out now, loudly and together, we can convince him to stop the next spill before it happens by banning new mines on public lands. Click here to send Obama that message.
From the Pebble Mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, to the Canyon Mine near the Grand Canyon -- there are dozens of proposed new mines being considered by Obama's team right now. Any one of them could wreak havoc on local ecosystems or contaminate watersheds if they're built and a spill happens.
It's time to protect all our rivers from toxic mining pollution -- not just clean up the latest spill to dye a pristine river some new and unusual color. Sign here to tell President Obama to reject all new mine proposals near our rivers until the mining industry cleans up its act.
Thank you for taking action to protect our rivers,
Drew and the Clean Water Crew at Environmental Action
1 - Matt Howerton, Everything you need to know about the Animas River spill, KOAT-7 news, Aug 15, 2015
2 - Bruce Finley, "230 Colorado mines are leaking heavy metals into state rivers," The Denver Post, Aug. 16, 2015. |
