October 1, 2011 in Idaho

Feds, Midnite Mine operators reach deal on cleanup

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The federal government has reached an agreement with one of the world’s largest mining companies on a $193 million cleanup of a defunct uranium mine on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

Newmont Mining Co. and its subsidiary, Dawn Mining, will pay for the majority of the restoration costs at the Midnite Mine. The U.S. Department of the Interior will contribute $42 million to future cleanup activities for failing to fulfill federal trust responsibilities to the Spokane Tribe through proper oversight of the open-pit mine.

The Midnite Mine opened in the 1950s to produce uranium for the U.S.-Soviet arms race. Although it closed 30 years ago, members of the tribe remain concerned about the Midnite Mine’s ongoing effect on their health and the environment. About 33 million tons of radioactive waste rock and ore remain at the 350-acre site above the Spokane River.

“Today signals a huge milestone in addressing what really is a blight on the landscape in the heart of the Spokane Reservation – not just from a physical standpoint but from the environmental consequences of the operations there,” said Dan Opalski, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund director in Seattle.

The proposed consent decree was filed in U.S. District Court on Friday. It’s subject to a 30-day public comment period. If the court approves the decree, the agreement would end years of litigation and kick off two to three years of design work for the Midnite Mine’s cleanup. The restoration work itself would require about seven years of construction activity.

“To this day, we don’t know all the negative impacts of what that mine did to the land, the animals and the people,” Rudy Peone, a tribal council member, said in an interview last spring.

In court documents, the Spokane Tribe has stressed that the land is part of its traditional homeland. The Blue Creek drainage where the mine is located was once used for hunting, fishing and gathering traditional foods, including roots and berries. But two years ago, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry cautioned tribal members against eating wild game, fish or plants gathered from the drainage, which is a tributary to the Spokane River. The foods could be contaminated with heavy metals or radiation, the ATSDR report said.

The Spokane Tribe’s government offices were closed on Friday, and officials could not be reached for comment on the cleanup agreement. An official for Dawn Mining Co. also couldn’t be reached.

The Midnite Mine dates to the Cold War era. In 1954, two members of the Spokane Tribe discovered uranium on the reservation. The federal government was offering lucrative contracts at the time to spur domestic uranium production.

Many members of the Spokane Tribe worked at the mine and a mill site in Ford, Wash. Mining ceased at the site in 1981, when uranium prices collapsed.

The mine cleanup includes filling in two deep, open pits with waste rock and providing a cover that will prevent radon gas from escaping, said Elly Hale, an EPA project manager. The caps also will prevent rain and melted snow from filtering through the radioactive waste rock, reducing the water treatment needed at the site, she said.

Another focus of the cleanup will be lowering the volume of groundwater that flows through contaminated material and eventually ends up in the Spokane River, Hale said. However, some level of perpetual water treatment will be required at the mine, she said.

At the end of the cleanup, an 8-foot fence around the Midnite Mine site will be taken down. Hale said radiation exposure from being on the site should be no different than low, natural background levels found elsewhere on the reservation.

If the cleanup work exceeds the $193 million estimate, Newmont and Dawn will be required to pay for the additional costs. The companies are required to post $151 million in performance bonds to ensure the cleanup would continue even if they defaulted on the work.

Deb Abrahamson, founder of the SHAWL Society, is a tribal activist who has spent years advocating for the Midnite Mine’s cleanup. Securing money for the cleanup is a major milestone, she said recently: “The company is owning their mess.”

Ensuring that the work is done properly, in a way that protects the cleanup workers’ health and creates a site that’s safe for people and wildlife, is the next priority, she said. Many of the tribal members who worked at the Midnite Mine and mill site in its early years didn’t have proper safety equipment or training, which exposed them to heavy metals and radiation, she said.

With unemployment at 55 percent for tribal members living on the reservation, people are eager for the cleanup jobs. This time around, workers should know the risks and how to protect themselves, she said.

“How the cleanup will occur is important,” Abrahamson said. Or, “we’re going to have another generation facing occupational exposure to toxins.”

Four comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  owenb on October 01 at 7:52 a.m.

  The site will remain a potential hazard. What type of “cap” will be installed that will remain as a perpetual barrier preventing
  radon gas from escaping?

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  force_vector on October 01 at 4:54 p.m.

  I don’t know, owenb. Why don’t you go ahead and submit your plan to Newmont for engineering, installing, and monitoring the cap you think will provide “perpetual” protection from radon gas “escape”.

  Every Site is a “potential hazard”. Engineered environmental controls are a best effort at mitigating any potential hazards a Site may represent to human health and the environment. If you are that concerned that the final result will be insufficient, request to be a part of the design work.

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  misjustice on October 01 at 7:57 p.m.

  Glad to learn that the former mine workers will finally get some assistance, and that clean up on the site is going to be started. Both are long past due, IMO.

  Where’s my tax cut?

• 

  private on October 02 at 2:57 a.m.

  The Midenite Mine is on PRIVATE Property and is a restricted area that no one on the reservation except the two private owners, mine operators and such should be able to access. No one is in anymore danger of radio activie harm than a person who goes in for a x-ray. A radiologist at Deaconess Medical Center a few years back had his badge examined and compared to the radioactivity at the mine site and he said he is regularly exposed to radiation and the radiation from the mine is such a low quantity that no one that ever worked there or lives near it is in any more harm of radiation poisoning than he is at work. The radiation levels at the Mine are so low that the EPA has even said that the radiation is not the issue with the tribal members getting sick with kidney failure, liver cancer, ect. It’s the life stlye they live. I can say this with out repose because I my self am a Spokane Indian. Also, the property the mine site is on, being private property, and left in the state it is in aside from being only partialy belonging to the Tribe belongs to two private owners as many triblal mambers are forgetting! The state in which this property is is not bathering any person whom the property does not belong to, it’s a matter of some ill stricken tribal members wanting a pay off for become ill due to the life stlye consequenses for which they have chosen to live. I my self have lung problems and know it is not due to the mine it’s hereditary and life style! The Private owners allowing, in the past, the uranium to be excavated created many jobs for the tribe and generated millions of dallors for the tribal members, don’t forget the money built the medical center and community buildings as well as paid percapitas and more! The money that was invested has opened up gas stations and casinos that generated percapita for the members. Can you imagine the poverity level on this tribe if our elders did not have the jobs as truck drivers and millers? The difference in Medical and lack of cash generated from the casinos? The land is PRIVATE property and everyone who does not own a title to the land should stay off of it and stop looking for a pay off. Further more the fence is there for a reason and signs posted use common sence and stay out, don’t play in or around the area if you are that worried about radiation, don’t eat the wild life there ect. Again you should not be hunting or fish on private property anyway! The members should inform themselves as to what the cause is they are fighting for and ask the counsil about meetings they are having with land management as well as other agencies about re opening the Mine due to the gov’t wanting to extract the remaining ore and sell it to Canada and Japan due to the Green Bill past not so lang ago by the President. Even the Acting Superintendent, wants to reopen and she has a geology background and is aware there is no potential risk of radiation and this will create jobs and large amounts of revenue for our tribe! If the Tribe is looking for a cause to fight right now it should be the Cobell v Salazar and lack of information presented to our tribe, do you know the consequeses of this case for land owners? Every member should stand up and say no tot he $1000.00 pay off! you are selling your liberty rights to the 14th amendments and the 7th. Every one who is on the list should Object and Appeal the Courts the $1000.00 will be gone in a flash and you will loose your rights to ever sue the tribe or gov’t on behalf of your land and the money they both stole! Worthy of looking into.