New Mexico to release monitoring plan for mine spill
New Mexico is developing a plan that will guide long-term monitoring activities in the wake of a spill of wastewater from a Colorado mine.
The state is expected to release a draft of the plan Tuesday. Officials are urging tribes, local leaders, concerned residents and researchers to weigh in during a 30-day comment period.
A public meeting is scheduled Tuesday evening in Farmington.
A crew working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released about 3 million gallons of waste tainted with heavy metals when equipment breached a debris dam inside the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado in August.
Rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah were polluted by the spill. Cities shut down water plant intakes and farmers closed irrigation canals until the plume passed.
