ARCO pays EPA nearly $1M for mine cleanup

(AP) - The Atlantic Richfield Co. has agreed to pay the federal government nearly $1 million to help cover cleanup costs at an abandoned polluted mine in Northern Nevada.

The $940,000 settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday pushes the total amount the EPA has recovered from responsible parties over the past decade to nearly $6 million at the old Anaconda copper mine in Yerington.

Jane Diamond, regional director of the EPA's Superfund Division in San Francisco, says the money will be used in part to combat dangers posed by toxic waste leaking into the groundwater.

More than 100 Yerington residents filed a $5 million class-action suit against Atlantic Richfield and its parent, BP, in January, accusing them of intentionally and negligently concealing the extent of the contamination for decades.捴