Denver • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fired back Thursday after a mining company accused the agency of failing to run a southwestern Colorado treatment plant at full capacity, letting untreated mine wastewater get into the Animas River.
EPA officials said the plant is running the way it was designed to, treating wastewater pouring from the inactive Gold King Mine. Scrubbing wastewater from additional sites would require expanding the plant, they said.
Doug Benevento, the EPA’s Denver-based regional director, said Sunnyside’s criticism of the treatment plant is designed to distract attention from the company’s responsibility to help with the cleanup.