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Stop the toxic dump

The Spokesman-Review

I am writing this letter because of my concern about EPA and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to build a toxic waste dump at Mission Flats adjacent to the old Mission of the Sacred Heart, a national historic landmark, sacred ancestral Coeur d’Alene tribal land, wetland and flood plain area.

The affected community was informed recently of many other repository sites in the Silver Valley identified by Terragraphics Environmental Engineers other than the mission. When asked, “Why the mission?” the official said it was “because it is convenient.”

This is another outrageous exploitation of the families and children in my community. We are vulnerable but have fought a local fight for years just to be able to speak out. This area is the epicenter of the pollution that continues to harm our children and wildlife, and we are doing everything we can to stop the source of so much pollution that just runs downstream to the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane rivers and lakes.

You who live downstream need to wake up and take action to stop repositories and work together for cleanup and health intervention that has been established for years by the Silver Valley Community Resource Center.

Carla Bassemier

Cataldo, Idaho



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