The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding another round of grants — this time totaling $260,000 — toward cleanup costs and response to the Gold King Mine spill in southwestern Colorado.
The funding will be distributed, according to a media release from the office of Sen. Cory Gardner, as follows: Southern Ute Indian Tribe, $58,684; La Plata County, $7,495; City of Durango, $9,993; San Juan County, $80,213; San Juan Basin Health Department, $4,591; and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, $101,465.
On Aug. 5, 2015, an EPA-run crew at Gold King triggered a 3 million-gallon blowout of acid metals contamination that turned the Animas River mustard-yellow in Colorado and New Mexico.
Gold King and 47 other nearby mining-related sites have since been put on a National Priorities List for Superfund cleanup.
“I’m encouraged the EPA has awarded more than $260,000 to Colorado communities for costs incurred as a result of the EPA-born Gold King Mine spill,” said Gardner in the release. “The EPA is responsible for this disaster and must continue to support the communities that suffered as a result.”
