EPA settles with Utah over 2015 mine spill

State gets $3M for water projects and $360M to clean up abandoned mines

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. government settled a lawsuit Wednesday brought by the state of Utah over a mine waste spill caused by federal workers that sent wastewater downstream to several states from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado five years ago.

The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to fund $3 million in Utah clean water projects and give another $360 million to the state for remediation projects at abandoned mine sites, the federal agency said Wednesday in a joint news release with the Utah attorney general’s office.

Utah’s lawsuit was one of several legal claims filed over the incident, but no other settlements have been reached, the EPA said Wednesday.

The Navajo Nation filed a claim for $162 million and the state of New Mexico one for $130 million.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler called the agreement with Utah a “win-win” for both sides in a statement.

“It will bring environmental benefits to Utah, avoid protracted litigation, and hopefully serve as a lesson … to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past,” Wheeler said.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a Republican, said he was happy to avoid more legal battles and get funds to help with state projects, and touted the agreement as an example of state and federal partnership.

The spill released 3 million gallons of wastewater from the inactive Gold King Mine to pollute rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, including on Navajo Nation lands. Some waterways turned an orange-yellow color.

An EPA-led contractor crew inadvertently triggered the spill.