Some low level staffer will get thrown under the canoe. Update to this previous story.

Via KKTV:

The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog says there is an ongoing criminal investigation into last year’s massive wastewater spill from an abandoned Colorado gold mine.

EPA’s Office of Inspector General sent letters to members of Congress saying it couldn’t answer some questions about its review of the Gold King Mine spill without jeopardizing a criminal investigation being conducted with the Justice Department. The statement did not say how long the probe has been underway.

An EPA-led contractor inadvertently triggered the Aug. 5 spill while doing preliminary cleanup work at the old mine. The resulting 3-million-gallon blowout turned rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah a sickly shade of yellow from wastewater contaminated with toxic heavy metals.

EPA says water quality in the rivers quickly returned to pre-spill levels.