The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the creation of a “Western lands-focused” office that will oversee abandoned hardrock mines that have left a stubborn legacy of contamination that continues to plague the West.
The new Office of Mountains, Deserts and Plains, headquartered in Colorado, will “address crosscutting issues unique to the region, and more effectively leverage existing EPA staff, expertise, and resources in hardrock mining cleanup,” according to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
“The days of a one-size-fits-all approach to environmental remediation are over,” Wheeler wrote in an op-ed posted by The Gazette, a Colorado newspaper. “At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we are thinking outside the box with creative solutions to local problems, reevaluating how we manage projects and workflow and streamlining processes agencywide, so we can achieve results for all Americans.”
The move was prompted in part by the 2015 Gold King mine spill in Colorado’s Bonita Peak Mining District, where an EPA contractor breached an old mine and released a deluge of toxic sludge that reached Utah via the San Juan River.
But the creation of the new office, which came with no advance notice, left many critics of President Donald Trump’s environmental record scratching their heads.
“The EPA already has a Western regional office, so a statement that comes with no details raises more questions than answers,” said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Denver-based Center for Western Priorities.
“At best it’s vague and doesn’t look like much. At worst, with this administration, you always have to question their motives,” he continued. “While simultaneously doing everything they can do to approve dangerous mines around the West, it’s incredibly hypocritical. Adding a few people in Denver is not going to change Trump’s toxic waste.”
The new office, based in the same Lakewood federal office complex that houses EPA’s Region 8 headquarters, will have five to nine staff. Its director will report directly to EPA’s assistant administrator for land and emergency management, a post currently held by Peter Wright.
Wheeler’s op-ed said the new office will be geared toward developing innovative technologies and adaptive management approaches to address legacy pollution. His stated hope is that it drives accountability, streamlines cleanups and improves coordination with state, local and tribal partners.
The U.S. House’s Republican-leaning Congressional Western Caucus applauded Wheeler’s gesture.
“This realignment of resources will ensure a more responsive agency, one now accountable for coordinating and streamlining important efforts between Western tribes, states, and locals,” said Utah’s Rep. Rob Bishop, a caucus member and former chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “This is nothing short of a win for the West and I will continue to work with the agency to guarantee a smooth, effective transition.”
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