Navajo farmers, ranchers sue over Gold King spill

Almost 300 seek compensation

Nearly 300 farmers and ranchers on the Navajo Nation affected by the 2015 Gold King Mine spill filed a lawsuit last week alleging gross negligence on the part of the Environmental Protection Agency and its contractors and demanding compensation for their losses.

The suit, filed Aug. 3 in the U.S. District Court of New Mexico in Albuquerque, includes 295 Navajo Nation members who say the spill caused extreme economic hardship to the tune of around $75 million, attorney Kate Ferlic said.

It’s the largest group of individuals to file suit over the spill.

Some lost their crops when they couldn’t use river water to irrigate them. Others were forced to sell livestock at reduced prices due to the stigma surrounding the San Juan River after the spill. One plaintiff said some of his animals died from dehydration and from drinking from the contaminated river.

Ethel Branch, Navajo Nation attorney general, said the disruption of the growing season also resulted in a shortage of items used in prayer and rituals such as cornmeal and pollen ceremonies.

“I think people had a lot of hope early on that the EPA would indeed take responsibility for their actions by processing the (Federal Tort Claims Act) claims quickly and ensuring that people were compensated for their injuries,” Branch said in a telephone interview Thursday. “People are disheartened that EPA has basically rejected actually assuming real responsibility for their actions.”

Branch said she believes the 295 plaintiffs represent half to two-thirds of farmers and ranchers who could have filed claims.

After the spill sent 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater and 880,000 pounds of heavy metals into the Animas and San Juan rivers in August 2015, the EPA under President Barack Obama determined that the law would not allow the agency to pay damage claims, though it did accept responsibility for the spill.

Former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who resigned in July, had said the EPA would take a second look at the previously rejected claims.

But there still haven’t been any payouts.

“The EPA does keep promis-

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Richard Charley, right, and Melvin Jones deliver water to a ranch on the San Juan River on the Navajo Nation after the river was contaminated with toxic wastewater from the Gold King Mine in 2015.