Crapo agrees money, delisting tied

PLUMMER, Idaho – U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, after meeting with Coeur d’Alene tribal officials for nearly two hours Friday afternoon, agreed that any cleanup or water quality monitoring plans for Lake Coeur d’Alene must have funding in place before the lake is removed from Superfund oversight.

The lake, a popular tourism and recreation playground, contains an estimated 77 million tons of toxic mining wastes that have washed down the Coeur d’Alene River for more than a century. The federal Environmental Protection Agency two years ago expanded its Superfund cleanup of Silver Valley mine wastes to include the entire Coeur d’Alene River Basin, essentially taking on a $360 million cleanup from Mullan to Spokane.

But local governments and business interests, citing fears that the stigma of Superfund would cripple tourism, were able to reach an agreement that Lake Coeur d’Alene could be “delisted” if a separate, non-Superfund, management plan was crafted between the tribe and the state. The Coeur d’Alenes, after fighting for a stake in the lake cleanup all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, were awarded ownership of the southern third of the lake several years ago. Idaho has sovereignty over the rest.

The EPA, however, said if the lake is to be removed from Superfund oversight, Superfund money can’t be used for any cleanup or monitoring programs. And in the two years since the deal was reached, Coeur d’Alene Tribal Chairman Ernie Stensgar has become concerned that no one is aggressively chasing down the funding needed for a Lake Management Plan.

Earlier this week, Stensgar stood along the lakeshore and pledged $5 million in tribal funds and challenged the Idaho and federal governments to match the amount.

Stensgar and other tribal officials said they don’t want to see a water quality management plan adopted without funding and then see the lake “delisted.” Any plan without money is a plan without teeth, they say.

On Friday, Crapo agreed the simple existence of a management plan is not a way to dodge Superfund oversight.

“The objective the tribe has raised is the objective all Idahoans share in common: We must achieve a lake management plan that is implemented,” he said.

The tribe, Crapo said, has pointed out the Catch-22 in the push to remove the lake from Superfund oversight.

“If it’s not in CERCLA, you don’t get CERCLA money,” the senator said. CERCLA, or Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, is Superfund and the money that comes with it for cleanup.

“One of the glitches we are facing is identifying a funding stream for a lake management plan. The tribe has put their money on the table,” Crapo said, and it’s time other parties did, too.

Crapo said he has tried for several years to secure as much as $250 million in non-CERCLA funding for Lake Coeur d’Alene, but he has been opposed by both the Clinton and Bush administrations, which have said Superfund cleanups should be managed by EPA and funded with Superfund dollars.

“They want to keep the money inside CERCLA. I believe, in the context of the cleanup, the federal government is responsible here” and should pony up some funding, Crapo said.

Even though it would seem easier to keep the lake in the expanded Superfund site, where cleanup dollars exist, Crapo said he agrees with local business concerns.

“There is a stigma. It has a dampening effect,” Crapo said. But the primary point, he said, is “we must implement an effective lake management plan (with) non-CERCLA dollars.”

Delisting won’t happen if there is just a document detailing how to monitor water quality but no funding to make it work, he said.