Property Owner Lives With Pollution Legacy

Like other property owners along the Coeur d’Alene River, Mike Schlepp knows first-hand the legacy of mining pollution.

He picks up swans that are dying of lead poisoning.

He plants seed grass instead of other crops, because it will grow in contaminated soil and won’t be eaten.

He watches beautiful trees crash into the river, but can do nothing about the erosion that causes the loss.

“On most rivers, the landowner has the choice of trying to stabilize the bank,” he said. “But if I start moving the mine tailings, I have accepted all liability for them.”

When Schlepp’s father bought the 550 acres in 1979, property owners weren’t held responsible for pollution they didn’t produce. But the law changed. Now, the family can’t sell its property because buyers and lenders don’t want responsibility for toxic mining wastes.

Even the federal government shuns the liability. It won’t give the state any hunting-equipment tax money to buy the land for a wildlife area.

Schlepp sounds more resigned than bitter when he talks about his predicament. And he does more than talk. He’s been active in Save Our River Environment, a property owners’ group that’s worked since the 1980s to get someone to do something about the erosion.

For the last several years, he’s been getting a big picture of the pollution problem as chairman of the citizens advisory group for the Coeur d’Alene Restoration Project.

He’s fascinated by the complex environmental problems. He’s tenacious. But he’s not patient with the scientists who, from his perspective, only study the mess along the river and do nothing to get it cleaned up.

“I look askance at people continually finding reasons not to do anything,” he said, looking down at a fallen cottonwood. “It’s a lot easier to give reasons not to do anything than it is to come up with solutions.”

, DataTimes