dr. wolk testifying that by august 11 the levels monitored metals in the animas river returned to pre-release levels, that there was no fish kill involved in this release and -- and i wanted to get your take on that, president begaye and councilman holguin? do you agree with that? >> we do not put dollar before the health of our people, our land, our water and we in our own testing, navaho nation epa has told us that there are high levels of metals, sediments, contaminates that's unhealthy for our animals and so we have become a dumping ground for waste water because the animas river is quite different from the san juan. the san juan is slow moving so anything that comes down to animas because it's high altitude gets into our slow-moving water and that's where it settles. >> thank you, mr. president. councilman holguin, i think you testified you knew about this spill in the afternoon because local officials notified you and that because of that early knowledge you were able to take steps to do

dr. wolk answer next and i have a final point and then we'll be out of here. >> just on the notion or the decision to make it a super fund site, it's at bit more complicated because the local community obviously has a very large voice in that as well as the state. we have very successful examples of super fund sites that have been restorative and have a sustainability plan now going forward. so certainly viable option. >> secretary flynn. >> congressman, i think super fund sites certainly have a place in environmental cleanup. however, i don't think that super fund is really designed to solve all the problems. in fact there are -- when you have a responsible party who is doing work, i think super fund adds layers of bureaucracy that can actually slow down environmental cleanup projects. so i think super fund is most effective when there isn't a responsible party who is actually there doing cleanup work. it's -- we have 14 super funds in our state. it can be used effectively, but there is a hug

dr. wolk, a couple of questions. do you think colorado does a pretty good job in terms of monitoring? we have engineers in colorado, don't we? engineers in colorado? >> yes we do. with water quality engineers so we worked collaborative leave with the epa and others to provide those resources to have a colorado solution. >> part of your job is the people of the state of colorado that the water will be saved. does it concern you that as the chairman noted as a follow-up to my question in the there was zero engineers at the epa working on the mind that had the high potential to blow out? with the state of colorado handled it that way? >> it concerns me but that doesn't mean they were not involved in some capacity. >> you are in the government. it is your job to have oversight. wouldn't have been prudent for the epa to have that oversight to make good choices before we had a catastrophe? >> i don't know if they rely and other resources. >> he would handle the very differently? >> our department has its own engineers for

dr. wolk, a couple of questions. do you think colorado does a pretty good job in terms of monitoring? we have engineers in colorado, don't

. >> dr. wolk, let's me ask you, as well, epa said as far as notification that they could have done a better job of tho notification. were you fortunate to have somebody that was in the right place at the right time that heard it? >> we were fortunate enough to have a member of our state department of natural resources there at the site who activated our notification system in-state through our spill line. and so we were able to follow our protocol with regard to in-state notifications for downstream users. >> so what you really did is you for the notification by sir ren dwipity. new mexico didn't know about it until southern ut evees recogni it. and navajo nation, who actually notified you? >> we were notified by state of new mexico. >> and then you notified utah, as well is th? >> yes. >> so when epa talks about their notification process, it was basically nonexistent. s they didn't notify squat. we did hao have one other membe i'm stretching here it see if i can get one other person to ask some