Before the Spill: Animas River, Durango, Colorado
Before the Spill: Animas River, Durango, Colorado Fly fishing on the Animas River in Durango, Colorado in the fall. This is where the toxic spill happened in the past week; over 100 miles of river has been poisoned so far. That toxic spill is what the "free market" looks like. Mining companies are "free" to fail to set aside enough money to provide adequate cleanup, then go bankrupt, and the executives are free to do this knowingly and remain completely shielded from all liability. It happens over and over and over, all across the country. So mines that were never really economically viable with cleanup costs considered are free to develop anyway, and the rest of the country is free to have the burden of the costs dumped on them (not to mention having toxic waste dumped in their water supply). That's why there was a million gallons of toxic waste water for the EPA to (try to manage and) accidentally release in the first place... the market was free and unregu...