Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. — The New Mexico Environment Department wants the federal government to reimburse the state for what it spent responding to the Gold King Mine spill.

The department announced Monday that it has sent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a request for more than $1.5 million — the money New Mexico spent on emergency activities in the wake of the spill.

The EPA has assumed responsibility for a cleanup crew that triggered the release of 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater at the mine in southwestern Colorado last August. Rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah were fouled.

New Mexico officials say local and state emergency workers, specialists, engineers, scientists and others teamed up to respond to and monitor the plume that deposited heavy metals as it progressed downstream.

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