EPA rejects most mine spill requests

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that it will pay $4.5 million to state, local and tribal governments for their emergency response to a mine spill that the EPA triggered, but the agency turned down $20.4 million in other requests for past and future expenses.

The EPA provided the figures to The Associated Press a day after informing two Indian tribes and more than a dozen state and local agencies in Colorado and New Mexico.

An EPA-led crew accidentally triggered a 3-million-gallon spill from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado while doing preliminary cleanup work in August 2015. The wastewater polluted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

Reimbursements for emergency response costs have been contentious. Some governments complained the EPA is rejecting legitimate expenses or taking too long.

Two bills before Congress are aimed at speeding up the reimbursement process.

The EPA said in a statement Friday it is following federal law that dictates what it can pay.

Separately, the Navajo Nation filed a claim with the federal government last week seeking $162 million in costs from the spill, including $3.1 million for unreimbursed expenses and $159 million to develop alternative water supplies, future monitoring and other costs.

The EPA said the Navajo Nation had requested $1.4 million and would be reimbursed $603,000. The difference in the EPA and Navajo figures couldn’t immediately be reconciled.

Navajo Nation officials had no immediate comment Friday on the EPA’s reimbursement decisions.

Among the Navajos’ costs that EPA rejected was more than $250,000 to haul drinking water to replace supplies taken from the San Juan.