Documentary filmmaker Tom Schillaci has been covering the aftermath of the 2015 Gold King Mine spill.
On the 10th anniversary of the spill, Tom will screen episode seven of his series Acid Mine Nation, called “If My Mining Company Did THAT," at the Powerhouse Science Center in Durango.
The screening is on Tuesday, August 5, at 6 p.m
His series of films captures the aftermath, community perceptions, and the progress (or lack thereof) in the Superfund cleanup that the Gold King Mine spill brought.
He spoke to Tami Graham for a KSUT Conversation.
Interview transcript
This is a partial transcript and has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Tami Graham, KSUT: It's been 10 years (since the Gold King Mine spill). That's remarkable. You have a series of films, and the seventh episode is going to be screened at the Powerhouse Science Center on August 5th. Tom, I'd love to hear a little bit from you about how did it come to be that you got so engaged in this topic. You were not an environmental filmmaker until you got really enticed to be so I understand.
Tom Schillaci, creator of "Acid Mine Nation": I was in Denver recovering from foot surgery, and the Denver Post had an article about Dr. Robert Blair, a retired geology professor at Fort Lewis College. He was going to start the Center for Mountain Studies, which turned to be Mountain Studies Institute. I offered to do some digital video and photos for his projects, and he said 'You should go to Mountain Film Festival and Telluride, and if you want to help an environmental group, talk to the Animas River Stakeholders group up in Silverton. So that was in 2001, and I really was blown away by the films and directors and producers at Mountain Film. I came back to Denver on a Tuesday, bought a video camera on a Wednesday and was in Silverton shooting my first video on that Friday, and that was in 2001.
Graham: Wow, what a trajectory. Almost 25 years.
Schillaci: I started Acid Mine Nation in 2014 before the mine spill. I was living and working in Silverton, and when that mine spill happened, I was working in a saloon and I couldn't get out of work that day. But I did get some footage of Cement Creek hitting the Animas River from that mine spill, and so I thought, well, I couldn't get that day's footage, so I might as well cover it. And so I spent the next bunch of years covering the story and how Silverton and Durango responded or reacted, how New Mexico reacted, how the Navajo Nation reacted.
As time went on and the Superfund project had some projects to show, I kind of looked at that and said, 'Gee, I could do a better job.' And so episode seven came about...it was early 2024, I got an email to send an abstract to the Rocky Mountain Mining and Reclamation Conference that was going to be in Leadville, Colorado. And I said, 'Well, what the hell?' I'll send it as "If My Mining Company Did That." It was a paragraph that I thought would never land anywhere. Oddly, to my surprise, they said, 'Okay, yeah, you can give that talk. Just be nice. Don't call anybody out by name. We'll see what happens.'
Graham: So that ended up becoming the title of episode seven of Acid Mine Nation, "If My Mining Company Did That." Tell us more about this particular episode.
Schillaci: The first part is some background. How did we get to the Gold King Mine spill? So it's about 25 minutes of previous actions, previous inactions, previous initiatives, what led to the mind spill in the rest of episode seven. Again, for that talk at the mining conference, I took clips from each of the other episodes. So I show a little bit about Durango's reaction, New Mexico's reaction, Navajo Nation's reaction, and then my take on how these Superfund projects were going or were not going so well.
Graham: Is there an episode eight in mind, or did they just sort of emerge and you're not sure if the series is over until something happens and it becomes obvious that it's not? How does that work for you as a filmmaker?
Schillaci: That's kind of a spoiler. There are two bills in Congress to get those claims of lost business revenue from the business owners paid in 2023. It seems to me that they were denied again. Some were paid $2,500 for property damage. Well, a river rafting company couldn't even put their boats in the water, so there was no property damage there. And when potential customers Googled the Animas River, pictures of the 'orange river' came about. The fly fishing companies and the river rafting companies lost business that following summer. I think those bills in Congress are looking at about three and a half million dollars. So we're not talking a huge amount, but that would be making those businesses whole. They spent time to fill out their claims. They've gotten denied a couple of times. So I would do an episode eight if the President signs those bills. And I would throw a heck of a party in Durango!
