Abstract
In August 2015 the Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado (USA) breached, discharging roughly 3 million gallons of toxic mining waste into the Animas River. A bright orange plume surged downstream—and across social media. The visual impact shocked watershed residents as the sludge drifted through the town of Durango, Colorado, towards Farmington, New Mexico, and then on to the Navajo Nation. In its wake, a sea of emotions and confusion arose from community members. What are the long-term impacts? Who is to blame? How will we heal? These are the questions that mobilize scholars of environmental disaster research.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Encyclopedia of Technological Hazards and Disasters in the Social Sciences |
| Publisher | Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. |
| Pages | 286-290 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781800882201 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781800882195 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2024 |
Keywords
- Animas River spill
- Colonialism
- Environmental justice
- Gold King Mine spill
- Indigenous people
- Navajo Nation
- Technological disaster
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
- General Environmental Science
- General Social Sciences
- General Engineering