Mine Disaster ‘Pains Me To No End,’ EPA Chief McCarthy Says

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy (AP Photo)
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy speaks at a news conference on the recent Colorado mine spill after speaking at a Resources for the Future policy leadership forum, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, in Washington.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy (AP Photo)The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it "pains me to no end" to see the 3 million gallons of mine waste that has turned the Animas River in southwest Colorado into an orange-colored pollution stream.

Gina McCarthy made the comments Tuesday in Washington, D.C., as her agency came under siege after federal and contract workers accidentally unleashed the spill as they inspected an abandoned mine near Silverton.