Epa Wants Deep Background Asks Mining Firms For Records Dating From 1880

Dozens of companies with ties to Silver Valley mining are scrambling to meet a June 26 deadline after the U.S. government ordered them to turn over documents dating back to 1880.

In a June 5 letter, the Environmental Protection Agency asked 70 companies for a detailed account of their role in more than a century of mining.

EPA officials plan to use the information to add defendants to a multimilliondollar lawsuit against companies they say contaminated the Coeur d’Alene Basin with heavy metals.

“We need to try to make sure that everyone who has a responsibility for natural resources damage is brought in,” said Bill Brooks, a spokesperson for the U.S. Justice Department.

The letter threatened small mining claims as well as a handful of international corporations with fines of $27,500 per day if they fail to meet the deadline. The agency has until Aug. 29 to name additional defendants in its lawsuit.

The Justice Department seeks to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from companies to help clean up mining pollution in the basin.

Currently, Asarco Inc., Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., Hecla Mining Co., Sunshine Mining Co. and several affiliates are named as co-defendants. With this latest round of letters, the EPA now may target not only the valley’s major mines, but also companies that played a more indirect role in the industry.

This could include those who leased mining claims, transported ore, or financed mining-related businesses.

Some of the tiny mining company owners who received the letters were enraged by the move.

“That’s the stupidest damn thing I’ve ever heard of,” said Charlie Gerry, who has been president of the Merger Mines Co. in Coeur d’Alene longer than he can remember. “They want everything from 1880 to the present, then they tell us we have 14 days to get this stuff to them.”

Gerry can’t understand why Merger received a letter - he said he simply owns the claims, letting larger mining companies under contract work them. Most of his property hasn’t been worked in years, although Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. is now busy on a limited number of Merger’s claims.

To provide the agency with all the information it has asked for - which includes documents related to virtually every aspect of mining in the Coeur d’Alene Basin - would be be nearly impossible, said Gerry. Merger Mines dates back to 1929.

“I’ve went through some of the stuff, but I don’t really know what to look for,” he said. “I think I’ll just give them the key to the door.”

Larger companies on the EPA’s list included Seafirst Bank, Noranda Exploration, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. and Cominco American.

While smaller concerns like Merger may have been caught off guard by the letters, lawyers for Cominco American said the EPA’s move doesn’t come as a surprise.

Even so, the scope of the questions the agency has posed presents a daunting task for even a large legal team.

“It is very difficult to accurately answer the question in two weeks,” said Bruce Diluzio, a Cominco attorney. “It will require a significant review of our records.

“We regard this as a very serious matter, something that has to be dealt with very seriously and cautiously.”

Don Hess is an accountant with Idaho Stock Transfer, a firm that represents about 12 small area mining companies. Three of those outfits got letters.

Hess said the situation strikes him as peculiar, considering that many of the companies that have been targeted have been nearly defunct for decades.

“One particular company has never had any operations,” said Hess, who refused to give the names of the mining firms he represents. “The only assets a lot of these companies have is their mining properties and a small amount of cash in the bank.”

Small “ma and pa” operations would have to spend a considerable amount of time and money to gather all the documents the EPA is requesting - enough to drive them into bankruptcy, he said.

“It’s a trolling expedition,” Hess said. “They’re just trying to find more defendants. Of course, if the company doesn’t have any money, I don’t know how they are going to pay for this.”

The Justice Department’s Brooks said the EPA isn’t trying to drive anybody out of business with the inquiry. He said that lawyers have been flexible, even granting month-long extensions to some of those who have asked for more time to gather the requested information.

But the man who signed the demand letter said the agency would be reluctant to grant extensions.

Associate director of the Superfund program, Mike Gearheard, said the agency would consider exceptions to the deadline only on a “case-bycase basis.” Gearheard said he didn’t know just how the information gathered by the inquiry will be used - the EPA may even discover that some of the companies are defunct.

“Typically defendants in a case like this ask us to be sure that we name or involve all the parties who should be involved,” he said.

Since being named in the suit a year ago, the defendants have made it clear that they alone shouldn’t be held responsible for a century of mining pollution in the Silver Valley.

Yet, “while they don’t like being singled out, they’re not in favor of expanding the litigation because it doesn’t solve anything,” said Holly Houston, spokeswoman for the four mining companies.

“All it does is bring the process to a screeching halt,” Houston said. “If you think it’s complicated now, just wait until all the lawyers of these other companies get involved.

“Think of how many millions more will be spent on litigation instead of cleanup.”

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe, which has a similar lawsuit against the mining companies, has not decided yet whether to add more parties to its own suit.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CENTURY OF ACTIVITY By Susan Drumheller Staff writer The federal government’s lawsuit against companies accused of polluting the Silver Valley stems from mining activities that began a century ago: 1885 - Mining activities begin in the Silver Valley, followed by smelting operations in 1917. 1981 - Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp. closes the Bunker Hill mine. 1983 - Bunker Hill and the surrounding 21 square miles are declared a Superfund site. 1986 - The State of Idaho settles a lawsuit against Silver Valley mining companies, establishing the $5.5 million Silver Valley Natural Resource Trust Fund for cleanup activities outside the Superfund site. 1991 - The Coeur d’Alene Tribe sues several mining companies and Union Pacific Railroad over natural resource damages outside the Superfund site. 1996 - The U.S. Justice Department files a similar suit against ASARCO Inc., Hecla Mining Co., Sunshine Mining Co., Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. and several affiliates.