Firms To Finish Bunker Cleanup Railroad Tracks, Fertilizer Plant, Gypsum Pond Next On Agenda

The final piece of the Bunker Hill Superfund Site cleanup is almost in place.

Three companies have agreed to help clean up the railroad tracks, a former fertilizer plant and a gypsum pond in a containment area near Interstate 90.

“With the consent decree we have the legal decision and mechanism to carry out all the pieces of the puzzle,” said Jerry Cobb of the Panhandle Health District, who has worked on the clean up since it began.

Union Pacific Railroad Co. has agreed to clean up the former railroad right of way.

“This year they’ll remove hot spots - visibly spilled concentrates on the surface of the ground,” said Mike Thomas, Superfund program manager for the state of Idaho.

The company will also take soil samples in 250-foot segments along the seven miles of track within the site, Thomas said. Next year, Union Pacific will tackle rail and tie removal, and excavation and replacement of contaminated soil will begin.

“We’re prepared to move ahead,” said Union Pacific spokesman Ed Trandahl. “We’re OK with the agreement. We worked with the government on it and we signed it.”

Stauffer Management Co. and Rhone Poulenc, Inc., part of Stauffer, have agreed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $850,000 to demolish the fertilizer plant.

The plant was originally built to help Bunker Hill get rid of its sulphuric acid, a byproduct of the smelting process, Cobb said. Combined with phosphates, it became a marketable product, fertilizer. Gypsum was a byproduct of manufacturing the fertilizer.

Stauffer and Rhone Poulenc will be responsible for closing the gypsum pond, Thomas said. Not only will they cap and revegetate the pond, but the job also involves redoing the outlets of the creeks in Magnet and Deadwood gulches so that they drain safely into Bunker Creek.

“It’s a considerable job. It’s still in the design stage now,” Thomas said.

In addition, Union Pacific has agreed to pay a premium of $425,000 to EPA and another $425,000 to the state of Idaho. Stauffer and Rhone Poulenc will pay $500,000 to EPA and $500,000 to the state.

The companies also will contribute a total of $300,000 to help keep the cleaned up areas intact.

In return, they will be released from further liability regarding what is known about the site - but not from future liability if new information comes out on the site.

“We wish there were more money - you always wish that. But from the state’s perspective, we were pretty hard-nosed,” Thomas said. “There’s compromise in the agreement, but we’re happy with it.”

The proposed consent decree was filed in federal court in Boise last week. A copy is on file at the Kellogg Public Library.

EPA will take comment on the document at the Superfund Task Force Meeting on April 6 at Kellogg Middle School.

The decree will become final only after a judge decides that all comments have been adequately addressed.