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Mining company challenges EPA order for Superfund site study

Posted at 9:12 PM, Mar 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-21 23:12:56-04

DENVER (AP) — A mining company is formally challenging an Environmental Protection Agency order to pay for an investigation of underground water flows at a Colorado Superfund site.

Sunnyside Gold Corp. said Wednesday it asked for a conference at which the company can ask EPA to modify or revoke the order. No date has been set.

EPA wants Sunnyside to study part of the Bonita Peak Mining District, which includes the Gold King Mine. EPA-led contractors inadvertently triggered a spill of potentially toxic wastewater there in 2015, polluting rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

Sunnyside doesn’t own the Gold King but has other property in the Superfund site. EPA says previous work at a Sunnyside’s mine may have redirected wastewater that found its way into rivers.

Sunnyside says it didn’t cause the problems.