Answer:However, prior to the Gold King Mine incident EPA’s 2014 Draft Baseline Ecological Risk Assessment (BERA) found that metals emanating from Cement Creek pose severe risks to the aquatic environment for several miles downstream of the mining district. Lesser impairment of the aquatic community is likely to be occurring for at least 30 miles downstream of Silverton.
It is these and other documented environmental impacts that have led EPA to propose the addition of the Bonita Peak Mining District to the National Priorities List (NPL), which is the list of national priorities among the known or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories. By proposing the site to the NPL, additional data will be collected to more fully characterize sources of metals in the Animals River outside of the Cement Creek drainage and to assess risks to human health and the environment.
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