Basin Cleanup Bill Clears Hurdle

The Senate Resources Committee unanimously agreed Friday to introduce a Coeur d’Alene Basin cleanup bill that Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, dubbed “a really exciting opportunity.”

The measure, requested by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and Gov. Phil Batt, would set up a commission to help funnel federal money into the cleanup of a century’s worth of mining wastes that have contaminated the basin.

Craig said state action would help him push funding legislation in Congress, according to Larry Koenig of the state Division of Environmental Quality, who presented the bill.

There was little discussion in the committee, although chairman Sen. Laird Noh, R-Kimberly, questioned whether the measure would replace existing “basin advisory groups” and “watershed advisory groups” that have been working to establish water quality standards for the basin.

Koenig said it wouldn’t. The measure would set up a new commission whose purview would be limited to metals contamination, he said.

The existing advisory groups “will have more than enough work left over,” Crow said. “This will free them up to concentrate even more effort” on problems related to nitrates in the lake and other issues, he said.

The committee’s action Friday was preliminary, so it took no public testimony. The bill will now be scheduled for a hearing.

, DataTimes