RENO, Nev. (AP) – Nevada wants to back out of an agreement to designate a toxic mine a priority U.S. Superfund site – a move critics warn could leave state taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions dollars in cleanup costs, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
State regulators say a new strategy with private backing would save money over the next 10 years and ensure faster cleanup, especially given the Trump administration’s sometimes hostile view of the EPA.
However, the watchdog group Great Basin Resource Watch says the state’s unprecedented effort would further delay restoration of groundwater polluted by nearly 100 tons of uranium and other contaminants abandoned at the former Anaconda copper mine about 80 miles southeast of Reno
The group accuses the state of initiating a clandestine effort to re-establish Nevada as the lead authority in the cleanup of the toxic stew just months after it had dropped its long-held opposition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to add the World War II-era mine to the list of the nation’s most polluted sites.
The nearby Yerington Paiute Tribe is suing previous mine owners Atlantic Richfield Corp. and BP America Inc. for tens of millions of dollars.