A U.S. District Judge handed down a penalty today and issued a warning to a company trying to mine gold in Idaho.
U.S. District Judge Mikell Williams has ordered Atlanta Gold Company to pay $2-million dollars in fines for not following clean water laws. Judge Williams also ordered it to comply with the federal Clean Water Act by the end of October or face even more penalties.
John Robinson works for the Idaho Conservation League, one of the two conservation groups that filed the lawsuit against Atlanta Gold. “What the Judge found is that Idaho’s rivers are one of the most precious resources around. And that Idahoans are simply not going to tolerate any type of pollution in our rivers.”
Atlanta Gold, a Canadian company, has been working to open a mine near the town of Atlanta, Idaho. In January, Judge Williams ruled Atlanta Gold was responsible for natural arsenic leaking into Montezuma Creek that runs into the Boise River.
Attempts to contact Atlanta Gold were unsuccessful.
Copyright 2012 Boise State Public Radio