The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs announced Wednesday it will “demand answers from the Environmental Protection Agency” at a hearing on the Gold King Mine spill that happened earlier this month above Silverton.

“The EPA must be held accountable for the release of contaminated and toxic waste water into the Animas River in Colorado and the San Juan River in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah,” U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, the Wyoming Republican who chairs the committee, said.

The committee is now the second Congressional group to launch an investigation into the EPA-caused 3 million-gallon waste spill on Aug. 5. The Science, Space, and Technology Committee has set a September 9 hearing on the spill and this week lambasted the EPA failing to hastily release documents linked to the disaster.

The Navajo Nation, among other tribes in the Four Corners area that were impacted, have been the most vocal about the detrimental impacts of the spill on their tribe.

Navajo leaders say the Gold King disaster has left their people on the brink of economic disaster and facing spiritual ruin. The tribe this week continued a ban on using waters from the San Juan River for agricultural out of ongoing contamination fears.

“Tribes use the waters from these rivers and this hearing will be a good chance to hear firsthand how this disaster is impacting them,” Barrasso said of the hearing. “The EPA needs to work with these tribes to ensure the mess is cleaned up, the sovereignty of the tribes is respected, and that the concerns of the tribes are acted on.”

The committee says Congress “has a responsibility to oversee the federal government’s response to this crisis.”

The hearing has been set for Sept. 16.

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul