Thank you to the loyal readers and supporters of The Colorado Independent (2013-2020). The Indy has merged with the new nonprofit Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) on a new mission to strengthen local news in Colorado. We hope you will join us!
The Environmental Protection Agency decided this week that the Gold King Mine near Durango is a top priority for Superfund designation. The mine, which...
On the morning of Aug. 5, 2015, a deep pool of acidic, metal-laden water was backed up behind debris in the Level 7 adit of the Gold King Mine on the slope of Bonita Peak, roughly 10 miles north of Silverton, Colorado.
Workers in the mountains above Silverton are racing to finish a patchwork of temporary fixes on leaking hard-rock mines above Silverton as Congress busies...
The Town of Silverton and San Juan County plan to ask the federal government for quick-fix, disaster-relief funding to help counteract the impacts of...
Target Practice
In The Coloradoan, Stephen Meyer took aim at Colorado gun laws: “Twenty months into implementation, Colorado's gun-control laws are mostly unenforceable and have...
In 2001 when Aaron Brill was gearing up to open his extreme skiing mecca of Silverton Mountain, gold was selling for $250 an ounce and the upper Animas River was meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aquatic life standards. Now gold is pushing $2,000 an ounce and three of four trout species no longer can live in the upper Animas because of acid drainage from abandoned gold mines north of Silverton.