Senate Panel Issues Subpoena To EPA’s McCarthy

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee acted Wednesday to subpoena EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy after the agency refused to provide witnesses to a field hearing on the EPA-caused Gold King Mine spill.

Chairman John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, and vice chairman Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, said they agreed to issue the subpoena ordering Ms. McCarthy or Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus to testify at the April 22 hearing in Phoenix.

Mr. Barrasso said the subpoena would be served on the EPA later Wednesday.

Committee members blasted the EPA for its lack of cooperation in aiding the panel in its oversight role on the Aug. 5 spill, in which an EPA-led crew uncorked 3 million gallons of orange contaminated wastewater during a mine cleanup project.

The contamination washed from Cement Creek into the Animas River near Silverton, Colorado, and poured into the San Juan River in New Mexico, which runs through the Navajo Nation.

“[I]t troubles me that this committee had to take the extraordinary step of issuing a subpoena to a confirmed federal official,” Mr. Barrasso said.

“I am troubled further that the EPA would disregard such failures and attempt to avoid the responsibility by refusing to appear before the committee and answer questions,” he said. “This sort of behavior is unbecoming of any federal official and won’t be tolerated.”

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