On September 9, the Environmental Protection Agency added Colorado’s Bonita Peak Mining District, which includes the shuttered Gold King mine, to the National Priorities List, making it eligible for additional study and cleanup resources under EPA’s Superfund program. The EPA has taken responsibility for the August 2015 spill, which affected waterways in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Numerous entities have sued the agency for mismanagement after the mine’s seal was accidentally broken during a routine assessment. It took less than an hour for more than three million gallons of toxic sludge to spill out and color the Animas River bright yellow before flowing into the San Juan River.
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