The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday it will not repay claims totaling more than $1.2 billion for economic damages from a mine waste spill the agency accidentally triggered in Colorado, saying the law prohibits it.
The EPA said the claims could be refiled in federal court, or Congress could authorize payments.
But attorneys for the EPA and the Justice Department concluded the EPA is barred from paying the claims because of sovereign immunity, which prohibits most lawsuits against the government.
"The agency worked hard to find a way in which it could pay individuals for damages due to the incident, but unfortunately, our hands are tied," EPA spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said.
The EPA said it has spent more than $31.3 million on the spill, including remediation work, water testing and payments to state, local and tribal agencies.
A total of 73 claims were filed, some by farmers who lost crops or had to haul water because rivers polluted by the spill were temporarily unusable for irrigation and livestock. Rafting companies and their employees sought lost income and wages because they couldn't take visitors on river trips. Some homeowners sought damages because they said their wells were affected.
"We had direct revenue losses of $50,000-plus," said Alex Mickel, owner of Mild to Wild Rafting in Durango, Colorado.
Mickel said the EPA had left him with the impression it would compensate for economic losses.
"That just amazes me that they would do just a complete reversal," he said in an interview. Mickel said he would consult with his attorney on his next move.
The August 2015 spill at the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado released 3 million gallons of wastewater tainted with iron, aluminum, manganese, lead, copper and other metals. The Animas and San Juan rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah were polluted, with stretches of waterway turning an eerie orange-yellow.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Mine-Waste-Spill/2017/01/13/id/768540/
I bet not a single person has been fired from this debacle.
This evil agency needs to be put down like a animal. Just do it, Ryan.
It and the other federal agencies have no qualms in taking it from us, but refuse to be accountable for their own actions. They are treating us like we are not the owners, they are. Enough of it.
