EPA workers had no way to get word out after toxic spill

Documents show it took more than 90 minutes for members of a federal cleanup crew to issue a warning about a toxic spill because they were initially trapped and scrambling to escape the flood they had accidentally unleashed from a Colorado mine.

The documents released Thursday by the federal Environmental Protection Agency contained new details on the 3 million-gallon spill on Aug. 5 that fouled downstream rivers in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

The EPA is facing increasing political pressure to explain how the accident happened despite prior warnings that it could occur.

The inactive mine is located on a remote mountain at an elevation of 11,000 feet.