Four companies have agreed to pay for the environmental project to clean up the Rio Tinto Mine, an abandoned copper mine in Elko County, Nev.
The state of Nevada will oversee the cleanup with input from EPA and the Shoshone Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley. The four corporations financing the cleanup, Atlantic Richfield Company, DuPont and Company, The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company and Teck American Inc. are corporate successors to companies that operated the mine from 1932 to 1976. A fifth entity, Mountain City Remediation, has been created by the four defendants to conduct the cleanup.
Under the terms of the agreement, the defendants agreed to remove mine tailings from Mill Creek, improve the creek to support the redband trout, and improve water quality in Mill Creek and the East Fork Owyhee River. The defendants will also pay for the Shoshone Paiute Tribes to monitor the cleanup. The companies are required to provide robust performance guarantees including payments to a trust account they will use to implement the cleanup.
“This agreement will result in the cleanup of mine contamination, protection of Nevada’s Owyhee River, and the restoration of a natural and cultural resource that is invaluable to the Shoshone Paiute people,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “This significant effort demonstrates a spirit of collaboration and commitment to environmental and natural resource protection that we share with our federal, state and tribal partners.”
The consent decree, a formal settlement under the federal Superfund law, will be posted in the Federal Register and will be available for public comment for a period of 30 days. The consent decree will be available to be viewed on the Justice Department website: www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.
The Rio Tinto Mine site is located approximately 2.5 miles south of Mountain City on Mill Creek, a tributary of the East Fork Owyhee River.
Defendant/Respondent: Atlantic Richfield Company, DuPont and Company, The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, Teck American Inc.
Crime: Failure to Clean Up Environmental Hazard
City and State: Elko County, Nevada
Date: 2023
Sentence or Outcome: $25 million cleanup agreement
Dollar Amount: $25 million
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Key Facts
- State: Nevada
- Category: Environmental Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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