EPA has no intention of paying for damages caused by mine spill
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By Karen Graham 12 hours ago in Environment
Farmington - Federal, state, tribal and local authorities were shocked on Friday when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it wasn't going to pay the over $1.2 billion in economic damages the agency caused in the Gold King mine spill in 2015.
In the announcement, the EPA said that federal law prohibits them from paying for damages, although they say the claims for damages could be refiled in federal court or Congress could authorize the payments.
The law the EPA is referring to is called the Federal Tort Claims Act and a provision of that law prevents the agency from paying claims that result from "discretionary" government actions. And it is the "discretionary" actions in Section 2680 of the code that the EPA is using to keep from paying for the damages.
Read more:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/epa-says-it-won-t-pay-economic-damages-from-gold-king-mine-spill/article/483667#ixzz4VpUlH8jj
