Bunker Hill Task Force Has Seen Its Clout Erode

If the Silver Valley People’s Action Coalition doesn’t speak for a majority of Kellogg-area residents when it comes to the Superfund project, who does?

Officially, it’s the Bunker Hill Task Force.

The group was created in 1985 to give voice to people who live in and near the 21-square-mile “box” surrounding the former lead smelter complex.

It was very influential in its early years, according to chairman Duane Little. Its members worked with federal and state officials to decide what needed to be cleaned up and how to do it.

To Little’s frustration, the group’s clout has diminished.

“When the EPA, the state and mining companies went into secret negotiations in the early ‘90s, we got left out in the cold for two years,” Little said recently. “After that, they made all the decisions.”

Jerry Cobb, the Panhandle Health District manager involved with the Bunker Hill project, calls the task force “not a flashy group, but a bunch of good thinkers.”

Barbara Miller, director of the People’s Action Coalition, is among those who refer to the task force as the “task farce.”

She thinks there are conflicts of interest on the board, including Little’s job as Shoshone County assessor and his involvement in economic development efforts.

Little has been chairman since the task force was formed. Other original members still serving are Gary Beck, retired from the Shoshone County Job Service; Eric Lassfolk, a retired carpenter, former Bunker Hill employee and Smelterville council member; and Bill Zanetti, whose businesses have ranged from a premix plant to a rock quarry.

Other members are Joe Hauser, retired smelter worker and former Kellogg City Council member; Ross Stout, manager of the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River Sewer District; Charles Peterson, former Bunker Hill employee, merchant and former Wardner mayor; Billie Irwin, former Kellogg council member; and Gary Hoffman, who has a private employment business and is a former Pinehurst city council member.

The Bunker Hill Task Force meets every other month. Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, state Division of Environmental Quality and other officials are there. Anyone can attend. Not many do.

“In general, people think that the EPA wants to do too good a job,” Little said. “The general population after 15 years has said, `Well, it’s going on and there’s not much we can do to change the course now. We just hope EPA gives us a clean bill of health and gets out of here.”’