Colorado congressman has doubts about Superfund mine cleanup

A southwestern Colorado congressman says a Superfund designation isn’t the best way to clean up leaking mines in his district but that he won’t stand in the way after local leaders endorsed it.

Republican Rep. Scott Tipton said Thursday a Superfund cleanup would be overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which caused an August mine spill that prompted the cleanup.

Tipton says it would be better to fund the effort another way. He didn’t offer specifics.

The EPA on Wednesday proposed adding the Gold King Mine and other sites to the Superfund list. Officials in Silverton and San Juan County and Gov. John Hickenlooper have endorsed it.

An EPA-led cleanup crew inadvertently triggered a spill at the Gold King that sent tainted wastewater into Colorado, New Mexico and Utah rivers.