Waste plan still a threat

Regarding “Comment period adequate on repository, report says” (June 10):

Big danger lurks as the EPA settles on a hazardous waste repository on the banks of the Coeur d’Alene River at East Mission Flats. It will contain 400,000 cubic yards of contaminated mining waste from Bunker Hill. Of course, even the sound of that doesn’t stand up to common sense, but the EPA’s project manager, Ed Moreen, dutifully assures, “stricter controls may be needed” and that “the risk was addressed.”

Nature really doesn’t care if you addressed it or not, Ed. A flood plain is still just that and the leaching of heavy metals is inevitable, because the flow of water works wonders against man’s best laid plans.

The EPA and Idaho DEQ may have held counsel with local residents in the Silver Valley, but the threat of serious heavy metals leaching into the Coeur d’Alene affects us regionally and downstream for sure. So when were the EPA’s poll-takers and pulse monitors in Spokane?

Bill Blanck

Spokane