Larocco Pushes Bills For Basin

An Idaho congressman introduced two bills Friday that would restore and protect the Coeur d’Alene River Basin.

The 3,700-square-mile basin has been polluted by a century of mining wastes. In noting the importance of cleanup, Rep. Larry LaRocco argued that the basin provides jobs, drinking water and wildlife habitat for much of North Idaho and Eastern Washington.

LaRocco, a Democrat, introduced the “Coeur d’Alene Basin and Spokane River Restoration Act of 1994” at the request of the state of Idaho and the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe.

It would charter a federal corporation to provide for conservation, remediation and restoration of the watershed. It does not, however, put a $1 billion price tag on the cleanup as the state and tribe initially requested.

A second bill, drafted as an amendment to the Clean Water Act, would convene a Coeur d’Alene Basin Management Conference to develop a pollution prevention, control and restoration plan. It specifies that the effort would include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Geological Survey, and Bureau of Land Management.

LaRocco said his efforts on behalf of the cleanup are supported by House Speaker Tom Foley, a fellow Democrat whose Spokane district would be directly affected by the legislation.