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Navajo Nation Reaches $10 Million Settlement in Lawsuit Over Gold King Mine Sprill

(CBS4/AP) -- The Navajo Nation reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed over the Gold King Mine spill. The spill took place in southwestern Colorado in 2015. Three million gallons of wastewater from the inactive Gold King Mine polluted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, including on Navajo Nation lands. Some waterways turned an orange-yellow color.

Gold King Mine Spill Animas River
(credit: CBS)

The Navajo Nation filed a claim for $162 million. Under the settlement, Sunnyside Gold Corp. will pay the tribe $10 million.

Last August, the state of Utah reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency to fund clean water projects.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)  

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