Todd Hennis will receive $919,000 for property near Silverton.
Months after the Aug. 5, 2015, Gold King Mine spill, the Environmental Protection Agency built the Gladstone Water Treatment Plant on property north of Silverton owned by Todd Hennis. Landowners sued the EPA in 2021 alleging illegal extraction. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald File)
The owners of the land on which the Gold King mine and Gladstone water treatment plant sit have agreed to a judgment in a lawsuit against the U.S. government.
Under the terms of the agreement, Todd Hennis will sell approximately 33 acres of land on County Road 110, about 13 miles north of Silverton, to the federal government for $919,000.
Hennis said the government violated the Takes Clause of the Fifth Amendment when it built a multimillion-dollar water treatment facility on Hennis' property in the wake of the 2015 Gold King mine spill. The lawsuit was filed in August 2021.
He sought $3.8 million in compensation for the property, including damages and land rent.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Armando O. Bonilla accepted the ruling on April 8, ending nearly three years of litigation. The transfer of ownership of the plot has not yet taken place.
Todd Hennis stands in front of the upper echelons of the Gold King Mine. (Courtesy of Todd Hennis)
Hennis acquired the Gold King Mine and the Gladstone lands, including mining interests at the Harbor Placer, Anglo-Saxon and Harrison Mill sites, in 2005 in hopes of reviving mining in the region.
The complaint says the Environmental Protection Agency had access to Hennis' property starting in 2008, first under the terms of an agreement and then under an executive order that included fines.
On August 5, 2015, contractors working for the EPA destroyed earthen plugs that held off heavy metal-laden water at the Gold King Mine, sending 3 million gallons of yellow sludge into Cement Creek and the Animas River.
Hennis gave authorities verbal permission to use his property to install post-spill equipment. Within three months, the EPA built the Gladstone Water Treatment Plant, which removed heavy metals from the water leaching from Gold King. The factory continues to operate today.
Mr. Hennis' lawsuit centers on the claim that the treatment facility was constructed without his consent, depriving him of the use of the land and resulting in an unconstitutional uncompensated share. Ta.
“When the Gold King incident happened, I handed over the (EPA) key for Gladstone and said, 'Here, use it for whatever you want, and give it back when you're done,'” Hennis said in 2015. said in October. It turned into tearing hell out of my land. ”
Mr Hennis has repeatedly rejected the EPA's requests to secure a long-term lease for the Gladstone property.
In January 2021, the EPA issued an order forcing Hennis to enter the premises under threat of fines of $59,017 per day.
His complaint, filed several months later, said the government “threatened Mr. Hennis with soul-crushing civil penalties if he exercised his constitutional rights to remove the government from his property.” ” is written.
Todd Hennis will give up his ownership interest in about 33 acres north of Silverton under the terms of a bilateral consent judgment proposed by the U.S. government. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald File)
In the government's extended offer, the parties jointly requested that a judge rule against the United States and in Hennis' favor in exchange for the government's acquisition of the property in question.
Hennis will receive $918,853, significantly less than the $3.8 million he originally sought.
Neither Hennis nor government lawyers declined to comment on the verdict.
Kara Rollins, Hennis' lawyer with the New Civil Liberties Union, said she was pleased with the outcome but lamented that it took much longer than her client had hoped.
“Everything that's happened since the Gold King Mine incident has left Mr. Hennis devastated,” she said. “This is a property that he built up over time and that played a significant historical role in the region and I believe Mr. Hennis would have wanted to play a key role in the future development of the region.”
Hennis owns at least a dozen other land and mineral rights near Silverton, according to San Juan County records.
“I hope this represents the end of one chapter in his life and the beginning of the next,” Rollins said.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
