Extension Offered To Some Companies For Epa Mine Study Agency Seeks Records Dating Back To 1880

Some Silver Valley mining companies will get more time to produce records for the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig announced Thursday.

That was the deadline for dozens of mining operations to submit records of their activity dating back to 1880. Now, Craig said, companies can receive a temporary reprieve.

The EPA, however, says extensions always have been available on a case-by-case basis.

“There is not a blanket amnesty or blanket extension,” said Mark MacIntyre, an EPA spokesman. People who couldn’t meet the deadline should call one of two attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice and explain their situation.

“They will make a determination whether you get an extension,” MacIntyre said.

The two attorneys are Liz Loeb at (202) 616-8916 or Hillary Tompkin at (202) 616-8746.

Bill Brooks, a Justice Department spokesman, confirmed that the extensions are available. At least two companies have been granted the reprieve to date.

The EPA sent letters to 70 mining companies June 5 asking for a detailed account of their Silver Valley work. The Department of Justice is using the information to determine which firms to add to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over mine-related pollution.

The money is to be used to clean up the Coeur d’Alene River basin.

Several large mining companies received the demand for information. But several mom-and-pop scale operations also were targeted and they say the exercise is impossible.

Some of the people who received the EPA letter own claims but lease them to mining companies. And some of the companies have been defunct for decades.

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