Heinrich To Speak At Oversight Hearings On Gold King Mine Spill

Press Release

On Wednesday, September 16, 2015, at 8 a.m. MT/10 a.m. ET, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will speak before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works during a hearing, "Oversight of the Cause, Response, and Impacts of EPA's Gold King Mine Disaster." Senators Heinrich sent a letter to the Committee's Chairman James Inhofe and Ranking Member Barbara Boxer last month requesting the oversight hearing.

In the afternoon, at 12:15 p.m. MT/2:15p.m. ET, Senator Heinrich will participate in a Committee on Indian Affairs hearing, "Oversight Hearing on EPA's Gold King Mine Disaster: Examining the Harmful Impacts to Indian Country." Last month, Senator Heinrich met with Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye in Window Rock, Ariz., to discuss the response efforts in Indian Country.

Senator Heinrich will discuss the impact of spill and the need for reforms to our mining laws to end once and for all the practice of giving away valuable minerals on America's public land, for free, and without a plan to address a century of pollution from abandoned mines.

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