The EPA is working trying to establish a Superfund site in a small mountain mining town that has become a tourist destination. It has run into roadblocks from the community that fears the bad press and loss of tourist dollars.

This is going to be a big job, and there are lots of contractors willing to pay big “under the table” money to certain EPA officials if they could get the Superfund designation.

So, those EPA “rogue” officials decide to dam up a stream coming out of one of the mines and let the mountain fill up with water for a couple of years.

Then, while the supervisor is on vacation, they send in a replacement for two weeks to drill a hole into the mountain and release a flood of toxic heavy metal into a major river that is the key source of water for downstream communities and two large Indian tribes.

It’s not a major metropolitan area and there aren’t many Indians out there, so the risk, balanced against the potential payoff, seems low.

Three of the rogues arrange to have some buddies floating in Kayaks and send a tip to the local paper that a photographer should be there to capture something exciting. The picture captures these guys floating in toxic yellow scum and it goes viral.

It makes national news, the government jumps in and pushes the Superfund designation through. The guy who drilled the hole gets retired with a big pension, contractors pay off the “rogues” and the place gets cleaned up.

I still have to figure out what happens long term to the river and the people and animals who use it. And, I still haven’t figured out who the hero is, or if there is one?

It actually seems pretty far-fetched. Never mind.

Jackson Clark

Durango