S.Amdt. 4697

SA 4697. Mr. McCAIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 4685 proposed by Mr. McConnell (for Mr. Shelby (for
himself and Ms. Mikulski)) to the bill H.R. 2578, making appropriations
for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related
Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:
Sec. ___.  It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Attorney General should investigate the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
(referred to in this section as the ``Administrator'') and
the employees and contractors of the Environmental Protection
Agency for violations of criminal law in connection with the
Gold King Mine disaster, including at a minimum--
(A) any criminal violation of Federal environmental law;
(B) criminal negligence;
(C) obstruction of proceedings under section 1505 of title
18, United States Code;
(D) obstruction of a Federal audit under section 1516 of
title 18, United States Code; and
(E) false statements under section 1001 of title 18, United
States Code;
(2) on August 5, 2015, the activities of the Administrator
at the Gold King Mine in the State of Colorado caused a
3,000,000-gallon acidic plume of lead, mercury, arsenic, and
other metals to flow into the Animas River in Colorado and
the San Juan River near Farmington, New Mexico;
(3) the Gold King Mine disaster devastated an estimated
1,500 farms located within the Navajo Nation because the
spill contaminated and interrupted water supplies and damaged
the crops, soil, livestock, wildlife, irrigation, and
drinking water that are critical to the Navajo Nation;
(4) a technical evaluation of the Gold King Mine disaster,
led by the Secretary of the Interior and dated October 2015--
(A) found that the Administrator failed to conduct
necessary water pressure testing on the Gold King Mine;
(B) was initially rejected by a peer reviewer based on
reservations of the peer reviewer regarding the chronology of
key events and internal communications provided by the
Administrator; and
(C) was amended 2 months after the date on which the
technical evaluation was initially rejected with a statement
by the Administrator that contains an inconsistent account
relating to the actions of employees of the Environmental
Protection Agency; and
(5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, the resources
and reimbursements provided by the Administrator to the
Navajo Nation are insufficient to address the devastation of
the economic, agricultural, and cultural centers of the
Navajo Nation caused by the Gold King Mine disaster.
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