EPA finds space to store sludge from Gold King Mine wastewater plant
(Brennan Linsley | Associated Press file photo) In this Aug. 12, 2015, file photo, water flows through a series of retention ponds built to contain and filter out heavy metals and chemicals from the Gold King Mine spill near Silverton, Colo. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found a place to store sludge from a treatment plant cleaning up the mine's wastewater.
Silverton, Colo. • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found a place to store sludge from a treatment plant cleaning up wastewater from a southwestern Colorado mine.
The Durango Herald reported Wednesday a landowner agreed to let the EPA store the sludge at an existing mine waste pile a few miles from the plant. The plant was running out of room for sludge.
The plant was installed in 2015 after the EPA inadvertently triggered a 3 million-gallon spill of wastewater from the Gold King Mine north of Silverton. The spill sent a yellow-orange plume of toxic heavy metals into rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah and on American Indian lands.
Wastewater is still flowing from the mine.
The EPA designated the area a Superfund site in 2016 but hasn’t announced long-term cleanup plans.
sltrib.com is now free to access — no subscription required. We made this decision because we believe access to trustworthy, independent news shouldn’t depend on what you can afford — especially as misinformation and AI-generated content continue to rise.
Free to read doesn’t mean free to produce. Our reporters show up every day to ask hard questions and hold powerful institutions to account. That work takes resources. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on support from people who believe it matters. Make a donation today to fund local news that serves Utah communities.
You can help us bring more local news to more communities today.