EPA accused of keeping New Mexico in the dark

New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn on Thursday accused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of withholding detailed water quality data from the state for several weeks after toxic waste from a mine spill contaminated water in the Animas and San Juan rivers. Flynn told the House Natural Resources Committee the lack of information hampered the response of New Mexico environment officials, who were unsure of the best way to react to the Aug. 5 spill that polluted waters in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. “The lack of timeliness with respect to providing data – we had all kinds of excuses (from the EPA) – but the bottom line is we just really needed that information to help develop a response plan,” Flynn testified. “Not having data in the first couple of days and continuing to have to make that fight put us in a position where we had to take very conservative actions.” Flynn, who appeared before the committee, also submitted written testimony saying the information put forth in the initial days after the accident “was summary level data, cherry-picked.”...more