At yesterday’s oversight hearing on the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Role in the EPA’s Animas Spill, both Republicans and Democrats on the Committee raised numerous questions about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) involvement with the peer review process of the Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR) study on the EPA’s Animas spill, particularly in light of USACE’s technical expertise and its serious criticisms of the scope of the Interior evaluation.

Because these questions were not adequately answered by DOI Secretary Sally Jewell, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Louie Gohmert (R-TX) sent a letter today to USACE requesting documents between USACE, DOI, EPA, and its contractors related to the peer review process.

In particular, the Committee requested:

1. A complete copy of the peer review comments Dr. Olsen provided to BOR;
2. All drafts, documents, contracts, photographs, or other materials Dr. Olsen received from EPA and/or DOI, including its bureaus, for the purposes of performing a peer review of the BOR report;
3. All communications between USACE and the Department of the Interior, including its bureaus, concerning the Gold King Mine;
4. All communications between USACE and the Environmental Protection Agency, including its contractors, concerning the Gold King Mine; and
5. All internal USACE communications concerning the October 2015 BOR report.

Read the letter here.