Homeowners living near a Superfund site in northern New Mexico say the effort to clean up contaminants from a tailings pile left at the abandoned Homestake uranium mill is moving too slowly.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the site's owner says it expects to have the site near Milan cleaned up by 2020.
Sixty-two area landowners who filed a class-action lawsuit in 1983 had allege that Homestake had known for years that uranium and other toxins were leaching into groundwater.
Homestake settled the lawsuit in 1983 under a consent decree in which Homestake agreed to extend Milan's water system to homes near the tailings pile and pay for their water until 1995.
By then, Homestake assured residents, the groundwater would be cleaned up and the wells safe to use.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.