SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah officials say they have been fully reimbursed for costs incurred during the response to a 2015 mine waste spill that fouled rivers in three Western states, but a lawsuit against the federal government hasn’t been ruled out.
The Deseret News reports (https://bit.ly/2nJsEtt ) that state environmental regulators said Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has paid a total of $464,000 to Utah, fully paying the Utah Department of Environmental Quality for its initial response to the Gold King Mine spill.
An EPA-supervised work crew triggered the spill that sent 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater containing arsenic, lead and other heavy metals into the Animas River near Silverton, Colorado. The spill reached waters in Utah and New Mexico.
Utah lawmakers have set aside $500,000 to pay for litigation against the EPA.
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Information from: Deseret News, https://www.deseretnews.com
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