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New Mexico reaches $32M settlement over 2015 mine spill

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2015, aerial photo, wastewater streams out of the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado, after a contractor crew led by the Environmental Protection Agency inadvertently triggered the release of water tainted with heavy metals. New Mexico and the U.S. government have reached a $32 million settlement over the 2015 mine spill that polluted rivers in three western states. The spill of wastewater from the inactive Gold King Mine, sent a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals south to New Mexico, through the Navajo Nation and into Utah through the San Juan and Animas rivers. (Geoff Liesik/The Deseret News via AP, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2015, photo, water flows through a series of sediment retention ponds built to reduce heavy metal and chemical contaminants from the Gold King Mine outside Silverton, Colo. New Mexico and the U.S. government have reached a $32 million settlement over a 2015 mine spill that polluted rivers in three western states. The spill of wastewater from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado, sending a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals south to New Mexico, through the Navajo Nation and into Utah through the San Juan and Animas rivers. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

New Mexico reaches $32M settlement over 2015 mine spill