Senators push EPA to pay mine waste spill claims

Two western GOP senators on Wednesday introduced a bill to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compensate local clean-up efforts following a mine waste spill last year.

The legislation, from Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) requires the EPA pay for claims related to the Gold King mine waste spill in Colorado last August.

{mosads}Hatch and Gardner introduced the bill as local governments continue to push the EPA for compensation following the spill, which sent 3 million gallons of mine waste into the Animas River.

Colorado’s La Plata County, for instance received a $63,000 payment from the EPA this week, but a county commissioner told the Durango Herald officials don’t expect to be reimbursed for nearly $260,000 in personnel, travel and water monitoring expenses. 

The senators’ bill would prioritize payouts for response work from tribes, counties and local governments. It would instruct the EPA to pay all claims related to the spill, as long as they are directly from emergency response work, and would have agency officials work with states on a long-term monitoring system for the river.

“The EPA-born Gold King Mine disaster financially burdened families, businesses, tribal communities and local governments not only in Colorado, but also neighboring states,” Gardner said in a statement. 

“The EPA is wholly accountable and therefore should be held to the same standard as private companies, and the [bill] makes sure of it.”