FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2015 file photo, water flows through a series of retention ponds built to contain and filter out heavy metals and chemicals from the Gold King mine chemical accident, in the spillway about 1/4 mile downstream from the mine, outside Silverton, Colo. The massive mine waste spill in southwestern Colorado contributed to water quality problems for up to nine months, the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. Contamination from the August 2015 spill at the Gold King Mine may also have caused pollution problems last year when annual spring snowmelt swelled rivers. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, file)
Brennan Linsley AP