Settlement reached to clean St. Maries superfund site

BOISE — The U.S. Department of Justice says two companies and the city of St. Maries have agreed to clean up creosote left at the site of a former wooden utility pole treatment plant. The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced the deal with St. Maries, Carney Products Co. and B.J. Carney & Co. on Tuesday. It was filed in Boise’s U.S. District Court late Monday. Cleaning up the superfund site is expected to cost more than $12 million. The federal agencies said B.J. Carney & Co. owned the plant from 1960 through the early 1980s, demolishing buildings on the site and re-grading creosote-contaminated soil. The company then sold its interests to Carney Products, Ltd., which peeled, sorted and stored poles at the facility. The cleanup plan calls for removal and treatment of more than 70,000 cubic yards of soil and river sediment.