Metals Limits Plan Draws Ire, Praise Epa Will Sift Nearly 300 Comments And Reports, Weigh Petition With 2,200 Names

The federal government’s proposal to limit toxic metals cruising down the Coeur d’Alene River has met with skepticism from many Silver Valley residents.

But one recent suggestion to rein in lead, zinc and cadmium sure is “poplar.”

Ninth-graders at a Spokane Valley junior high school tout hybrid cottonwoods as a solution to heavy metal pollution.

Letters from about a hundred students are part of nearly 300 written comments and reports received on the controversial metals limits. More than 2,200 people also signed petitions opposing the limits as too strict. The students from science teacher Steve Baran’s Horizon Junior High class, however, didn’t get political.

“What I think we should do is plant more poplars to help stop the polution and I think you should have us help,” suggests student Kendra Black. Researchers say hybrid cottonwoods pull contamination from soil and ground water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed limits on the amount of metals that mines, sewage-treatment plants and other sources can legally release into the Coeur d’Alene system.

The public comment period for the so-called Total Maximum Daily Load proposal ended Aug. 14. Officials had extended the comment period by 60 days to give people time to review the highly technical and politically charged proposal.

Most of the comments on file at the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality in Coeur d’Alene go far beyond tree-planting. Many oppose the limits, citing the national water quality standard used to calculate the allowable metals levels. Comment letters and several petitions request limits based on local standards that reflect naturally high levels of lead and other metals.

Others chastise potentially drastic effects on the Silver Valley economy, based on local and industry estimates of the cost to sewer customers and the mines.

“I think you EPA people like to stir things up just so you’ll have a job,” wrote Millwood Mayor Jeanne Batson.

But Washington state interests, numerous Idaho citizens, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and environmental groups back the limits.

Washington state wants to make sure metals flowing into the Spokane River meet its stricter standards. Numerous Wallace and Coeur d’Alene residents urge strict metals controls to shore up water quality - and the local economy.

“Shoshone County will continue to be economically depressed until its environment, including the South Fork (of the Coeur d’Alene River) is attractive enough to draw people and diverse industries,” writes Mary Lou Reed of Coeur d’Alene, a former state senator.

The EPA is operating under legal notice: Last August, conservation groups filed an intent to sue the federal government over delays issuing the so-called Total Maximum Daily Loads the EPA was required to issue by the end of 1997.

Michele Nanni of Spokane’s Lands Council said she expects the EPA to produce a new proposal by spring.

The council and the tribe encouraged federal and state officials to find funding sources for costly technology upgrades at mines and sewage plants.

One Horizon student also offered some financial advice.

“We could also ask Bill Gates for a loan, but I don’t think that would work,” wrote Rachelle Langdon.

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT COMMENT REVIEW EPA officials haven’t had a chance to review the documents, said Bill Riley, head of the agency’s regional water-quality office. EPA has hired a consultant to help its staff wade through the comment files. It’s not clear when a final version of the metals limits will be available for public review, Riley said. “It’s going to be a matter of months.”