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APNewsBreak: EPA says it can’t pay damages from mine spill

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2015 file photo, Dan Bender, with the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, takes a water sample from the Animas River near Durango, Colo. after the accidental release of an estimated 3 million gallons of waste from the Gold King Mine by a crew led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA said Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 that it won’t pay claims totaling more than $1.2 billion for economic damages from the spill, saying the law prohibits it. (Jerry McBride /The Durango Herald via AP, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2015 file photo, Dan Bender, with the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, takes a water sample from the Animas River near Durango, Colo. after the accidental release of an estimated 3 million gallons of waste from the Gold King Mine by a crew led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA said Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 that it won’t pay claims totaling more than $1.2 billion for economic damages from the spill, saying the law prohibits it. (Jerry McBride /The Durango Herald via AP, File) FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2015 file photo, Dan Bender, with the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, takes a water sample from the Animas River near Durango, Colo. after the accidental release of an estimated 3 million gallons of waste from the Gold King Mine by a crew led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA said Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 that it won’t pay claims totaling more than $1.2 billion for economic damages from the spill, saying the law prohibits it. (Jerry McBride /The Durango Herald via AP, File)

By Associated Press 3 min read

DENVER (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency will not repay claims totaling more than $1.2 billion for economic damages from a mine waste spill the agency accidentally triggered in Colorado, saying the law prohibits it.

The EPA said Friday the claims could be refiled in federal court, or Congress could authorize payments.

But attorneys for the EPA and the Justice Department concluded the EPA is barred from paying the claims because of sovereign immunity, which prohibits most lawsuits against the government.

An official announcement is planned later Friday. The Associated Press was provided the outlines of the decision in advance.

A total of 73 claims were filed, some by farmers who lost crops or had to haul water because rivers polluted by the spill were temporarily unusable for irrigation and livestock. Rafting companies and their employees sought lost income and wages because they couldn’t take visitors on river trips. Some homeowners sought damages because they said their wells were affected.