Tribe Offers New Cleanup Proposal ‘Moderate’ Effort To Clean Up Mining Pollution Would Cost $515 Million

The Coeur d’Alene Indians have written a new proposal for cleaning up mining pollution in the Coeur d’Alene River basin, with about half the price tag of a plan they floated last year.

Their implication is “You get what you pay for.”

Last summer, the tribe was criticized as being unrealistic when it suggested to Congress a $1 billion full restoration of the ecosystem.

This time, the price tag is $515 million. That would buy a “moderate” cleanup effort, tribal representatives said Wednesday.

“It may not be adequate to restore the basin, but it’s a starting point,” said Callie Rodolfi, an engineering consultant to the tribe.

A much more modest, $121 million cleanup proposal is also on the table, put there by the mining industry. Neither plan is likely to survive intact. Both are being considered by citizens involved with the Coeur d’Alene Basin Restoration Project, who will meet in late July to try to hammer out a compromise.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has asked them to provide ideas for cleanup legislation he can present to Congress this year. Craig expects to meet with the citizens on July 3, said his aide, Sandy Patano.

Legislation is usually drafted by this point in the congressional session, she said. But Craig doesn’t want to proceed without hearing some agreement about what needs to be done about the metals that threaten wildlife and human health.

“We’d like to proceed with something. I just don’t know what that something is at this time,” Patano said. “I think everyone’s starting to see how big this problem is, how hard it is to get your arms around it.”

The tribe’s proposal was explained Wednesday during a meeting of the Coeur d’Alene Basin Interagency Group, which includes scientists involved in research and restoration. Many of them pointed out the need for cleanup objectives.

“What are you trying to fix - the people? the plants? the animals? the water? the whole thing?” asked Art Bookstrom of the U.S. Geological Survey. “If it’s the whole thing, then you still have to set priorities.”

The biggest point of contention is what should be done about cleaning up metals-tainted sediment that’s been deposited along the lower Coeur d’Alene River.

The tribe wants to dig up metals-tainted mine tailings, removing them from much of the riverbanks, small lakes and wetlands. Industry representatives think it’s necessary only to clean up “hot spots” that pose special threats to people or animals.

Ray Givens, tribal attorney, said any legislation should be flexible enough to allow decisions to change as better scientific information becomes available.

“I agree,” said Patano.

So far, cleanup efforts are focused in the upper reaches of the Silver Valley, where mines began dumping waste rock into the streams a century ago. Marti Calibretta, who coordinates some of those efforts, said it took four years to reach agreement on what should be done upstream.

That hasn’t happened downstream of Cataldo, she said.

, DataTimes