Much on the news is the details of the EPA "blunder" and the rupture of a wall that allowed millions of gallons of toxic sludge to be released into the reaches of the greater Colorado River Basin.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/11/epa-we-misjudged-pressure-gold-mine-before-spill/31447379/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/11/epa-we-misjudged-pressure-gold-mine-before-spill/31447379/)
What many didn't know is that a retired geologist who lived nearby had warned the city of Silverton and the local EPA bureaucrat that messing with the status quo of the mine was not recommended. In fact, when he saw exactly what the EPA had planned to do, he called it out in a letter to the local paper a week ago warning that this was going to backfire and give the EPA the excuse they need to declare the Gold King Mine an EPA Superfund site.
http://www.silvertonstandard.com/news.php?id=847 (http://www.silvertonstandard.com/news.php?id=847)
There has been a long going battle between the State of Colorado Dept, of Mines, the EPA and local authorities on how to address the seepage of the water from the retaining wall. Seems the geologist predicted that due to inadequate funding, the site couldn't get the remediation needed to pump out and treat the water, so the EPA was going to mess with it, to get the Superfund "catastrophe" declaration they need to take over the site from the state and local authorities.
Federal paranoia or a politically informed geologist, either way, he called it exactly a week before it happened.
FYI: The water is yellow due to the dilution of iron deposits in the water, which is harmless. However the hidden heavy metals in the water is the toxic part and is causing major problems for the Navajo Nation downstream.
Once the river clears up, some will declare it safe and open. This is not true. Heavy metals are never safe, and won't go away. This is long term, if not permanent damage.
So who is going to levy a fine against the EPA?
It looks like they dumped millions of gallons of Sunny D in the river. :-)
Another interesting aspect now acknowledged is that the supposedly iconic Western setting is actually industrialized.