Colorado Mining Co. Wins 10th Cir. Appeal in Pollution Case

A federal court in Colorado didn’t have enough evidence to determine that High Mountain Mining Co. polluted federal waters without the appropriate permit, the Tenth Circuit said Wednesday.
“The court failed to consider all the relevant geophysical factors relevant to the particular circumstances here,” a three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said.

A group of Colorado residents and nonprofits claimed in their suit that High Mountain unlawfully discharged wastewater from its gold mine—Alma Placer Mine—into settling ponds that seeped into groundwater and migrated to the Middle Fork of the South Platte River. The ...