Rep. Gosar Grills Gina McCarthy on EPA's Incompetence, Hypocrisy Following Animas River Spill

Statement

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after participating in a joint hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Natural Resources Committee investigating the EPA's Animas River spill:

"The incompetent and negligent actions of the EPA following the Gold King Mine Spill prove what American small business owners and farmers have known for a long time--The EPA has a blatant double standard when it comes to enforcing the rule of law and has abused its authority in order to promote Obama's far-left environmental agenda.

"Even worse, the complete and utter failure of the EPA to notify multiple states, tribes and local comminutes in the path of the toxic spill put the health and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people at risk. We heard testimony today from Navajo President Russell Begaye that tribes and the American people have zero trust in the EPA's ability to clean up this mess or hold anyone accountable for this incident.

"The EPA has previously pursued, with full force, criminal charges against private sector companies for spills that were a fraction of the 3 million gallons that the EPA dumped into the Animus River. Yet not a single employee at the EPA has been fired or even put on administrative leave. I demanded accountability at the hearing today and wanted to know which EPA employees are going to jail or being reprimanded for this catastrophic spill. Unfortunately, Administrator McCarthy's statements about accepting responsibility for this incident appear to be just empty words as she couldn't effectively answer that question."

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