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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2015)
Friday, October 23, 2015 NATION/WORLD Probe ¿nds EPA error caused mine spill Facing GOP queries, Clinton Page 8A East Oregonian BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Government investigators squarely blamed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday for a 3 million-gallon wastewater spill from a Colorado gold mine, saying an EPA cleanup crew rushed its work and failed to consider the complex engineering involved, triggering the very blowout it hoped to avoid. The spill that fouled rivers in three states would have been avoided had the EPA team checked on water levels inside the Gold King Mine before digging into a collapsed and leaking mine entrance, Interior Department investigators concluded. The technical report on the causes of the Aug. 5 spill has implications across the United States, where similar disasters could lurk among an estimated hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that have yet to be cleaned up. The total cost of containing this mining industry mess could top $50 billion, according to govern- ment estimates. The root causes of the Colorado accident began decades ago, when mining companies altered the Àow of water through a series of interconnected tunnels in the extensively mined Upper Animas River watershed, the seeks to close book on Benghazi Associated Press AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, file In this Aug. 12 file photo, water flows through a se- ries of retention ponds built to contain and filter out heavy metals and chemicals from the Gold King mine chemical accident, in the spillway about 1/4 mile downstream from the mine, outside Silverton, Colo. report says. EPA documents show its of¿cials knew of the potential for a major blowout from the Gold King Mine near Silverton as early as June 2014. After the spill, EPA of¿cials described the blowout as “likely inevi- table” because millions of gallons of pressurized water had been bottling up inside the mine. The Interior report directly refutes that assertion. It says the cleanup team could have used a drill rig to bore into the mine tunnel from above, safely gauging the danger of a blowout and planning the excavation accordingly. Instead, the EPA crew, with the agreement of Colorado mining of¿cials, assumed the mine was only partially inundated. “This error resulted in development of a plan to open the mine in a manner that appeared to guard against blowout, but instead led directly to the failure,” according to engineers from Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, who spent two months evaluating the accident. The blowout tainted rivers in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and on the Navajo Nation with dangerous heavy metals including arsenic. Nurse quarantined over Ebola fears sues Gov. Christie TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A nurse who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa and was quarantined at a New Jersey hospital when she returned sued Gov. Chris Christie and state health of¿cials on Thursday, saying they illegally held her against her will. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and a New <ork ¿rm ¿led the federal civil rights lawsuit in Newark for Kaci Hickox. Besides Christie, the lawsuit names as defendants former state health commis- sioner Mary O’Dowd and other health department employees. The lawsuit seeks at least $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, and Hickox’s lawyers say they hope the case will change a quarantine policy they allege was driven by politics, not by public health concerns. Hickox, 34, was working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone during last year’s Ebola outbreak, which killed thousands of people. When she returned via Newark Liberty International Airport she was stopped, questioned and sent to stay in a tent outside a Newark hospital despite having no symptoms of the disease, which is spread through direct contact with the bodily Àuids of an infected person who’s showing symptoms. “I felt like I was being manipulated. I was literally in the dark,” Hickox, who lives in Oregon, said at a New York news conference via Skype. “It was so hard. I felt completely alone and completely vulnerable, and I was scared.” She said Christie’s decision to quarantine her was made out of fear and was politically motivated, although she didn’t elaborate. Christie, a Republican, was considering a run for pres- ident and has since entered the race. Christie’s of¿ce isn’t commenting on the pending legal matter, a spokesman said. Christie said last year he was doing his duty to keep people safe. When asked then about a possible lawsuit, he said he’s been sued lots of times: “Get in line,” he said. “I’m happy to take it on.” WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton strove to close the book on the worst episode of her tenure as secretary of state Thursday, battling hours of Republican questions in a hearing that grew contentious but revealed little new about the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, /ibya She ¿rmly defended her record while seeking to avoid any mishap that might damage her presidential campaign. Pressed about events before and after the deaths of four Americans, Clinton had confrontational exchanges with several GOP lawmakers but also ¿elded supportive queries from Democrats. The most combative moments focused on accusations about the Obama administration’s shifting early public accounts of the attacks. However, ¿ve hours into the hearing, Republicans had yet to ask the Democratic presidential front-runner a single question about the night of Sept. 11, 2012, itself. The committee’s chairman, Trey Gowdy, portrayed the panel as focused on the facts after comments by fellow Republi- cans describing it as an effort designed to hurt Clinton’s presidential bid. Democrats have pounced on those earlier remarks and have pointed out that the probe has now cost U.S. taxpayers more than $4.5 million and, after 17 months, has lasted longer than the 1970s Watergate investigation. Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, said the Repub- licans’ efforts were not a prosecution. Contradicting him, Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, told Clinton: “The purpose of this committee is to prosecute you.” In one tense moment, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio accused Clinton of deliberately misleading the public by linking the Beng- hazi violence at ¿rst to an Internet video insulting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. AP Photo/Evan Vucci Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton listens as she testi- fies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday. Clinton, stone-faced for much of the hearing, smiled in bemusement as Jordan cut her off from answering. Eventually given the chance to comment, she said only that “some” people had wanted to use the video to justify the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Steven and three other Americans, and that she rejected that justi¿cation. The argument went to the origins of the disagreement over Benghazi and how President Barack Obama and his top aides represented the attack in the ¿nal weeks of his re-election campaign. And it reÀected some of the raw emotion the deadly violence continues to provoke, something Clinton will have to face over the next year of her White House bid even if the Republican-led special investigation loses steam. For Clinton, the political theater offered opportunity and potential pitfalls. It gave her a high-pro¿le platform to show her self-control and command of foreign policy. But it also left her vulnerable to claims that she helped polit- icize the Benghazi tragedy. “There were probably a number of different motiva- tions” for the attack, Clinton said, describing a time when competing strands of intel- ligence were being received and no clear picture had yet emerged. Speaking directly to Jordan, she said: “The insinuations that you are making do a great disservice” to the diplomats and others involved. “I’m sorry that it doesn’t ¿t your narrative. I can only tell you what the facts were,” Clinton said. There were no gaffes for Clinton and — beyond that exchange— few heated interactions. She never raised her voice as she had at a Senate hearing on Benghazi in January 2013, when she shouted: “What difference, at this point, does it make?” Given that Republicans campaigned off that oft-re- peated sound bite, the lack of an indelible image from Thursday’s hearing will have suited Clinton’s campaign ¿ne. Instead, it was the panel’s members who engaged among themselves in the nastiest ¿ght, with Clinton merely observing. Democrats pressed for the release of the full transcript of a Clinton adviser’s private testimony, drawing Gowdy of South Carolina, into an angry debate. The panel eventually voted against the release, all Democrats in favor, Repub- licans against. Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, said an important question remains unan- swered: Why were security requests denied? why was the military not ready to respond quickly on the 11th anniver- sary of 9/11 and why did the Obama administration change its story about the nature of the attacks in the weeks afterward? BRIEFLY Russia shows military might in Syria, also pushes diplomacy in Vienna, joined by their counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both staunch critics of President Bashar Assad. HEMEIMEEM AIR BASE, Syria (AP) — As Russia unleashed waves of warplanes Thursday from this air base in western Syria to pound militant targets, President Vladimir Putin pushed diplomatic efforts with the West, stressing the need “to consider each other as allies in a common ¿ght.” Russia put its military muscle on display, bringing Moscow-based reporters to view a day’s worth of ¿ghter jets roaring off a runway in dozens of sorties as helicopter gunships patrolled the edges of the sprawling facility. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Friday American killed in raid to free Iraqis held by IS WASHINGTON (AP) — Believing that Islamic State captives held on a compound in northern Iraq faced “imminent mass execution,” dozens of U.S. special operations troops and Iraqi forces raided the site Thursday, freeing approximately 70 Iraqi prisoners in an operation that saw the ¿rst American killed in combat in the country since the U.S. campaign against IS began in 2014, of¿cials said. The raiders killed and captured a number of militants and recovered what the Pentagon called a trove of intelligence about the terrorist organization. The U.S. service member who died was not publicly identi¿ed pending noti¿cation of relatives. Of¿cials said this was the ¿rst American combat death in Iraq since the U.S. began its counter-IS military campaign in August 2014. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said target of the raid was a prison near the town of Hawija and that the raid was undertaken at the request of the Kurdish Regional Government, the semi-autonomous body that governs the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. He said U.S. special operations forces supported what he called an Iraqi peshmerga rescue operation. The peshmerga are the Kurdish region’s organized militia. The U.S. has worked closely with them in training. Eat Smart for Your Heart Tuesday, October 27th 5:30 - 7:00 PM • Room #2 FR Please call 541-278-3235 to register. Join us for Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, 2015 in the East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald, as we honor the men and women of the U.S. Military. Their courage, hard work and sacrifice are the backbone of our nation, protecting freedom, liberty, justice and all we hold dear. 1x4 - $ 40.00 2x3 - $ 55.00 Full Color Included Private Party Only Bring in or call 1-800-522-0255 with a photo and message to your hero to give them a special thanks. Wednesday, November 5 th 1x4 EXAMPLE For more information call Paula at 541-278-2678 or 1-800-522-0255 or Hermiston Herald at 541-564-4530. 2x3 EXAMPLE We are so proud of you for serving your country. EE Love Evelyn, Joe and Cheryl J OSEPH B. D AVIS 2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801 PRICES DEADLINE Topics Covered: • Know your numbers • Tips for reducing sodium intake • Heart healthy fats • Carbs are bad, right? Come and find out! • Heart healthy foods to include in your diet • Food samples! Join Christine Guenther, RD, LD E E for a fun interactive class! F R They’ve served our country with courage and honor. They’ve left behind loved ones to risk their lives in protecting their country. They’ve defended our freedoms and ideals. They make us proud to be Americans. J OSEPH S MITH Thank you for your service! Love always Marcy, Julie & Emily