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April 15, 2011 in Idaho
EPA scaling back basin plan
Public balked at proposed cleanup’s expense, duration
A truck makes its way along Interstate 90 near Osburn, Idaho, Thursday. As EPA looks for ways to scale back a $1.3 billion cleanup of the upper Coeur d’Alene basin, a liner on the south fork of the Coeur d’Alene River appears to be the first thing that might go.
(Full-size photo)
A controversial plan to install a plastic liner along 10 miles of the Coeur d’Alene River’s south fork probably will be scrapped.
By lining the stream, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed to keep clean surface water from mixing with groundwater polluted from historic hard-rock mining activity.
But the $300 million liner was expensive, politically unpopular and posed technical challenges. Agency officials say they’re looking at other options for reducing high levels of lead, arsenic and zinc in the water. A final decision is expected later this year.
“You’re literally pulling up a river, placing a liner, and putting the river back on top,” said Shawn Blocker, an EPA acting team leader. “You’re working in a dynamic environment. … It’s not an easy process.”
The south fork is one of the Silver Valley’s key natural features, meandering through the chain of old mining towns that border Interstate 90. In some areas, the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes bike route follows the stream.
Last summer, the liner became a flashpoint during public hearings over an expanded Superfund cleanup in the upper Coeur d’Alene Basin. Local residents worried the south fork would lose its natural look.
Blocker said the liner would have been buried under several feet of river rock. “It’s not like you would have seen this big, white thing,” he said.
In other rivers, liners successfully halted the spread of heavy metals, Blocker said. Along the south fork, however, EPA officials are now looking into collecting groundwater and treating it to remove heavy metals. An existing treatment plant already has that capability.
After treatment, the water would be returned to the south fork.
“We aren’t going to have a big, dry riverbed,” Blocker said. “We want to clean it up, but make it still the same as it was before.”
EPA received about 7,000 public comments on a $1.3 billion proposal to expand Superfund cleanup activities in the upper Coeur d’Alene Basin. The plan’s intent is to reduce the risk of heavy metals exposure for both people and wildlife. It targets more than 300 old mine sites in the basin, along with polluted streams. But both the plan’s price tag and the 50- to 100-year cleanup timeframe have been questioned by local residents and Idaho’s congressional delegation.
“It’s clear the final plan will have a reduced scope,” EPA Project Manager Bill Adams said this week in an agency publication.
EPA officials are meeting with local stakeholders, including community leaders, the state of Idaho and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to discuss the project.
The agency’s goal is to move closer “to something they like,” Blocker said.
Miners to return to Lucky Friday 
polistra on April 15 at 4:40 a.m.
Don’t be fooled. When EPA wants to destroy something or kill someone, it never stops. Unlike the American “military”, which must consult a team of lawyers before shooting each lavender-scented bullet into its own feet, EPA has absolute and total authority. What Lisa wants Lisa gets.
They will find a way to wreck this river.
riverlaw on April 15 at 6:18 a.m.
How dare they try to clean up our lead and mercury!
Spokane_Citizen on April 15 at 6:31 a.m.
I’m thinking Idaho has already managed to “wreck this river”.
johnclarke on April 15 at 7:04 a.m.
Um polistra yeah…the lake is considered one of the most polluted in America and it’s pouring heavy metals our way. Idaho does not want the bad image associated with the EPA, or apparently the jobs that go along with a 90 year project.
Ninch on April 15 at 7:30 a.m.
Quit blaming Idaho and their citizens for legitimate concerns. Large “environmental cleanup” projects too often have unintended consequences.
And quit blaming residents for mining waste. Too many mining corporations took the profits and reneged on their stewardship. Time for johnclarke to get an education and read up on his history.. and learn to make legitimate comments without denigrating others.
johnclarke on April 15 at 8:33 a.m.
I know where the mine waste came from Ninch, um that would be mining companies. I know who is blocking the EPA and fighting the cleanup effort, and that would be the State of Idaho, some of the residents of Idaho and business concerns in Idaho. Who would you suggest we blame?
There is literally a RIVER OF DEADLY HEAVY METALS coming over that dam and I’m thinking we might want to stop it. Thanks for the lecture, are you the new intellectual snob on the SR ?
http://www.krem.com/news/local/116665129.html
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/12/01/1438364/simpsongears-up-to-take-on-epa.html
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=062801&id=s984075
http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcrights/1tralak8.html
http://www.hcn.org/issues/224/11143
DickAdams on April 15 at 8:34 a.m.
I agree with Ninch, its high time johnclarke spend a few days at the library.
johnclarke on April 15 at 8:36 a.m.
Enough education Ninch? Can we call children with lead in their blood an “unintended consequence?” God, you people are dense. Well the people in Idaho are going to be REALLY dense thanks to heavy metals.
http://www.idahoconservation.org/mining-pollution-it-sticks-around
By the time federal laws clamped down on this wanton pollution, the damage was already done. Lead levels in the blood of local children skyrocketed into the danger zone. Much of the Silver Valley was so tainted with lead that the Environmental Protection Agency designated it a Superfund site and marshaled a massive cleanup, which continues.
The Spokesman Review reports that lead levels in the lake during the summer are typically in the 2 to 3 parts per billion (ppb) range, periodically exceeding the federal standard of 15 ppb. The recent high flows in the river flushed enough lead downstream to send lead levels soaring to 3,480 ppb!
johnclarke on April 15 at 8:38 a.m.
Oh great, now two intellectual giants are against me. You guys are right, we should just ignore this issue.
hawken on April 15 at 9:02 a.m.
Clarke don’t need no library. Libraries are full of “facts.”
masomenos on April 15 at 9:11 a.m.
the triumvirate of intellectual achievement and guardians of truth have spoken, Mr. Clarke. if it can’t be demonstrated on one of Beck’s chalkboards, then it obviously is a falsehood. i am glad that the public is protected from meaningless water quality measurements and demonstrable science by the likes of ninch, howken, and adams.
#notintendedtobeafactualstatement
eagleproducer on April 15 at 9:20 a.m.
What’s wrong, Hawken, did your adjunct professors at SFCC cancel classes today? Or are you off to your usual “running start?”
greenlibertarian on April 15 at 10:14 a.m.
Don’t you people know that everything environmentally friendly, or remediative, is bad and costs money?
Like this:
From those socialists at Fortune Magazine.
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/05/dows-amazing-7-billion-profit-on-green/?iid=EAL
Hmmm spend $2B on green initiatives and get back $9B. Some corps know what to do, some of you ignorant Luddites don’t.
west on April 15 at 2:31 p.m.
100 years from now it will be polluted like today. How do you strip the high mountains surrounding the river of all poisons? At 4000 ft start and work down to the river? Impossible..life will go on, thousands are not dieing because of the river..get over it… complete waste of tax payers money.
masomenos on April 15 at 2:48 p.m.
Wow!! Great News! The fountain of youth has been discovered in Idaho! So how does one become a member of the “not-dieing” community? Immersion? Drinking mass quantities of stream water after flood events? We need the secret!!!
force_vector on April 15 at 3:05 p.m.
“Drinking mass quantities of stream water after flood events? We need the secret!!!”
Apparently you haven’t seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Nexflix yourself that, and you’ll have the answers you seek. However, you must choose…wisely.
johnclarke on April 15 at 4:15 p.m.
Actually West, the EPA said 90 years. So, you should be impressed.