Posts tagged: Coeur d'Alene basin
The U.S. Attorney's office for Idaho posted its biggest collection ever today, when Hecla Mining Co. paid $77.5 million as part of a settlement involving the Bunker Hill Superfund site in North Idaho. The settlement was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice in June; in it, Hecla agreed to pay $263.4 million plus interest to the United States, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, and the state of Idaho. The settlement is to pay for cleanup of mining contamination in the Coeur d'Alene Basin.
Payments already have been made to the tribe and the state; Hecla is scheduled to pay another $43.3 million to the federal government by August of 2014. “This historic recovery to resolve one of the largest cases ever filed under the Superfund statute compensates the United States for more than three decades of clean-up efforts,” said U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson, “and establishes a strong basis for future cooperation between Hecla Mining Company, the tribe, the state, and the federal government.”
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter has sent a letter criticizing the federal government’s proposal for the next phase of cleanup in Idaho’s Silver Valley region. Otter sent a letter Monday to the Environmental Protection Agency saying he cannot support the plan unless it ensures cleanup work will not impede existing or future mining in the region. In the letter, reported by the Coeur d’Alene Press, Otter also says the cleanup cannot last forever and urged the EPA to set reasonable and achievable goals. The EPA is taking public comments on its proposal to expand the cleanup of historic mining wastes in the upper Coeur d’Alene River basin. The EPA Director of Environmental Cleanup Dan Opalski says they will consider Otter’s comments and others submitted in the process.
Betsy Z. Russell covers Idaho news from The Spokesman-Review's bureau in Boise.
Named best state-based political blog in Idaho for 2013 by The Fix
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