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EPA Plans Treatment Plant For Colorado Mine After Big Spill

JONATHAN THOMPSON HIGH COUNTRY NEWS

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to build a wastewater treatment plant for an inactive Colorado gold mine after the agency inadvertently triggered a 3-million-gallon spill of polluted water there last month.

The EPA released documents Tuesday outlining plans to quickly build the plant below the Gold King Mine near Silverton.

An EPA-led crew triggered the spill on Aug. 5, tainting rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The Senate Environment Committee holds a hearing on the incident Wednesday, one of several planned by Congress.

Wastewater was flowing from the mine before the blowout. The EPA says it's still spilling out at about 600 gallons per minute.

The documents don't say how much the plant will cost. The agency said last week it had spent about $8 million on the cleanup.

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