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EPA Wants Gold King Mine Suits Dismissed

Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking the dismissal of several claims against it regarding the 2015 Gold King Mine spill.

The spill occurred when a contractor for the EPA breached a portal at the mine, sending millions of gallons of mineral-laced wastewater into the Animas and San Juan rivers. The state of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation filed separate lawsuits against the EPA, but the Farmington Daily-Times reports the EPA recently filed a motion to dismiss those claims. The agency says it was not directly responsible for the spill and it is protected by sovereign immunity.

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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