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As the ten-year anniversary of the Gold King Mine waste water spill approaches, the Animas River in southwestern Colorado is threatened by another major spill. In December 2024, a pipeline operated by Enterprise Products spilled 23,000 gallons of gasoline on the Southern Ute Reservation near Durango. Both Tribal and state officials have discovered benzene, a component of crude oil products with known health impacts, is now seeping into intermittent springbeds and residential wells, and may be making its way towards the Animas River, a half-mile away from the site of the spill.
Tribal leaders have become frustrated with the pace of cleanup over the past five months. In a press release, the Southern Ute Tribe calls on Enterprise Products to "immediately act with more urgency and transparency" to address the spill. "We will not stand by while our ground and surface water, Tribal resources, and the health of our Tribal Members are put at risk," said Chairman Melvin J. Baker. "It is our duty as leaders and original stewards to protect the land that has been home to our ancestors since time immemorial and will be home for our future generations to come."
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is responsible for the investigation and for oversight of the cleanup, the department did not send someone to visit the site until May 1, according to the Southern Ute Tribe. Now that the spill threatens to impact the Animas River, a water of the U.S., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a Notice of Federal Interest and will be "engaged in oversight" of the cleanup effort.
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The people of Wyoming — contrary to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s belief — have never treated our public lands as just 'national assets' on a balance sheet. We have never wanted these lands to be liquidated to pay for some short-term project like a temporary tax cut or to be transformed into a tiny pyrrhic band-aid on the societal wound that is a lack of housing supply.”
