"The Toxic Colorado River Spill And the Menace of Old Hard-Rock Mines"

"Keena Kimmel's bookshop occupies a cozy curve along the Animas River, a place of wild sunflowers and lilacs where fisherman try their luck and kayakers glide under iron bridges. But this weekend the river was empty and Kimmel's heart broken.

'Years ago I was passing through on the way to Oregon and ended up staying because it was so beautiful,' she said, gazing over the vacant waters. 'I can't believe what's happened. I guess I'm still kind of in shock.'

Shock, sadness and anger have gripped this pretty college town in southwestern Colorado as residents struggle to understand the slow-moving environmental disaster that has transformed their crystal clear Animas River — or the River of Souls, translated from its Spanish name — into a ribbon of mustard yellow sludge."

David Kelly reports for the Los Angeles Times August 10, 2015.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-river-mine-spill-20150810-story.html...

SEE ALSO:

"Colorado River Spill: Early Tests Show Little Threat to Fish, Wildlife" (NBC News)

"When Our River Turned Orange" (High Country News)

"Colorado Governor Declares State of Emergency in Gold Mine Wastewater Spill" (Reuters)

"Rivers Hardest Hit By Colorado Mine Waste Spill To Stay Closed Until Aug. 17" (Reuters)