Here’s the link to Hayhoe’s Global Weirding YouTube channel.
Day: December 10, 2016
EPA rejects $20.4 million in requests for mine spill costs — @AP
From the Associated Press (Dan Elliott):
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it will pay $4.5 million to state, local and tribal governments for their emergency response to a mine spill that the EPA triggered, but the agency turned down $20.4 million in other requests for past and future expenses.
The EPA provided the figures to The Associated Press a day after informing two Indian tribes and more than a dozen state and local agencies in Colorado and New Mexico…
The EPA said in a statement Friday it is following federal law that dictates what it can pay…
The EPA said the Navajo Nation had requested $1.4 million and would be reimbursed $603,000. The difference in the EPA and Navajo figures couldn’t immediately be reconciled.
Navajo Nation officials had no immediate comment Friday on the EPA’s reimbursement decisions.
Among the Navajos’ costs that EPA rejected was more than $250,000 to haul drinking water to replace supplies taken from the San Juan. The EPA did agree to pay more than $90,000 to transport water to two areas until early September 2015 but said the river quality had returned to pre-spill levels by then.
The EPA turned down requests from several local and tribal governments to be repaid for such spill-related expenses as attorney fees, future water quality monitoring and travel to testify before Congress.
The EPA agreed to pay New Mexico $1.1 million but rejected $236,000 in requests. The reimbursements are for the San Juan County cities of Aztec and Farmington, and 11 state agencies.
State Environment Secretary Butch Tongate said he was pleased the EPA was repaying the costs and said the state will pursue reimbursement for long-term monitoring as well.
The EPA’s reimbursement decisions can be appealed. None of the governments reached Friday had decided whether to do so.
La Plata County, Colorado, may decide next week, County Manager Joe Kerby said.
“We are extremely disappointed in their response,” Kerby said. “Disappointed but not surprised.”
EPA rejected some of the county’s costs because they came after Oct. 31, 2015, the day the EPA closed down its incident command center. But Kerby said the county kept accumulating response costs after that.
Kerby said the EPA has repaid the county about $377,000, and he believes the agency owes it another $29,000 in expenses.
Poem: Nicole — Greg Hobbs
Nicole
Your favorite place?
Any place along, beside, within, upon the waters
with others you have helped get there!
You joined us nine full years ago when
our boat seemed as if to splinter on the rocks.
Your righted us! Woman at the oars
and a legacy of leadership to carry on!
Your smile, when you let it go when your
eyes dance, goes the killer mile.
And so, in all, we’ve watched you coax, cajole,
implore, extend the most worthy of all Colorado
Conversations. How to become in grace and
beauty a person whose water heart belongs
Among us.
Greg Hobbs
Nicole Seltzer is leaving the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and moving to the Yampa valley. Here’s her announcement from the October edition of Headwaters Pulse:
The time I’ve spent at the helm of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education has given me so much more than I would have ever expected. As the organization grew, so did my leadership and management skills, my community of friends and colleagues and my knowledge of Colorado water issues. I have the utmost respect for this organization, its staff and board, and the village of people who support us both intellectually and financially. Being CFWE’s executive director has been the best job I could have asked for, no question, and I am eternally grateful to the board who, 9 years ago, took a chance on me.
And yet, with all that, I still know that it’s time to turn over the reins to someone new. Someone who can take what we’ve built, infuse it with new energy and ideas, and write the next great chapter for Colorado water education. I am excited to see where CFWE goes next, and what possibilities new leadership will unearth.
Good luck from Coyote Gulch Nicole!
