Gold King mine spill left linger troubles on Navajo Nation
August 9, 2020
SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) — Duane "Chili" Yazzie wears a "Water is Life" shirt as he walks the rows of his farm. He speaks of the river and earth as sacred entities for the Navajo people.
But the Shiprock Chapter president can't forget when the river turned yellow.
On Aug. 5, 2015, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contractors breached a mine tunnel at the abandoned Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, sending 3 million gallons of acid mine drainage into the Animas and San Juan rivers.
Word of the spill spread as the yellow plume flowed through the river. Communities from Durango, Colora...
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