New Mexico reaches $32M settlement over 2015 mine spill near Silverton
New Mexico and the U.S. government have reached a $32 million settlement over a 2015 mine spill that polluted rivers in three western states. Similar environmental accidents will be intolerable in the future as the region grapples with shrinking water supplies amid drought and climate change, the governor said Thursday. … The spill released 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of wastewater from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado, sending a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals south to New Mexico, through the Navajo Nation and into Utah through the San Juan and Animas rivers.