Second, the idea that my rights, as an individual, trump the rights of everyone else – that my individuality is somehow sacred – that died with the frontier, too. Todd Hennis talks about his retirement – when people’s physical lives and health downstream of his mine are being affected. Can’t we see how crazy that is? The fact that Hennis is talking about going after the EPA – that has been having to tiptoe around his “rights” and Silverton’s “rights” to maintain its tourist image – while trying since the ’80s to stop this flow of poison, shows how skewed our thinking has become. If there was any sanity left, everyone downstream of that poisonous carbuncle would be uniting to bring a class action suit against Todd Hennis – not the corporation he hides behind – and against Silverton, a small group of people who have looked to their self-interest over the health concerns of thousands of people whose health has been compromised by the poison leaking out of this mine for decades. Gold King Mine is not just Todd Hennis’ retirement, it’s his legacy: His name will be remembered by many people and their families for years to come.

Susan Kolb

Hesperus