This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah officials are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reimburse more than $300,000 the state spent taking water samples after the EPA released 3 million gallons of wastewater from a Colorado mine into the Animas and San Juan rivers.
"First and foremost, the issue is making sure that the agencies that incurred costs in responding to the release are reimbursed," Utah Assistant Attorney General Craig Anderson told the State Water Development Commission, which met Tuesday to discuss the status of the state's claims to the EPA.
The EPA incorrectly estimated water levels inside the Gold King Mine when it began to drill into the mine Aug. 5 below the water level, a federal review concluded in October. That caused an earthen dam to fail and unleash the wastewater inside the mine.
The EPA has outlined a process for Utah to recover its response costs from the federal Superfund program, Anderson said.
The Utah Department of Environmental Quality seeks $315,645.57 from the EPA to cover water sampling and testing from Utah rivers in the aftermath of the contamination.