Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, asked DEQ Director Toni Hardesty whether the recent ASARCO court settlement will "in any way relieve the state of Idaho's taxpayers." Hardesty's response: "Unfortunately no." Under the mining firm ASARCO's bankruptcy settlement, Hardesty explained, Idaho will receive two sums: $1.9 million for the Triumph Mine, and $11.7 million to Idaho and the EPA for the institutional controls program in the Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund cleanup. Both those funds are restricted to being used on those projects, and are "very targeted for ongoing costs that ASARCO would have had to pay for, and in fact now has passed that responsibility on to us ... in the bankruptcy settlement," Hardesty said.

---

---