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New Mexico reaches $32 million settlement over 2015 mine spill

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico and the U.S. government have reached

a $32 million settlement to address claims stemming from a 2015 mine

spill that polluted rivers in three western states. Gov. Michelle Lujan

Grisham and other state officials announced the agreement Thursday. The

spill released 3 million gallons of wastewater from the inactive Gold

King Mine in southwestern Colorado. The bright-yellow plume of arsenic,

lead and other heavy metals flowed south to New Mexico, the Navajo

Nation and Utah. Water utilities were forced to shut down intake valves

and farmers stopped drawing from the rivers as the plume moved

downstream. Colorado and the tribe also have reached multimillion-dollar

settlements.