RENO, Nev. (AP) — Rural neighbors of an abandoned World War II-era copper mine that has leaked toxic chemicals in northern Nevada for decades have won up to a $19.5 million settlement from Atlantic Richfield Co., and its parent BP America Inc.
The companies also agreed to pay $2.6 million in legal fees to the lawyers who represented about 700 past and present neighbors of the old Anaconda mine built in 1941 on the edge of Yerington 65 miles southeast of Reno.
Residents said in a class-action suit filed in 2011 the companies covered up the contamination. They accused them of "intentionally and negligently" concealing the extent of uranium, arsenic and other pollutants leaking into their drinking water wells from the mine covering 6 square miles — an area equal to 3,000 football fields.