Epa Opens 5-Year Review Of Bunker Hill Cleanup
The Environmental Protection Agency is beginning a five-year review of its cleanup efforts around the former Bunker Hill smelter site.
Both the federal agency and its critics have scheduled public meetings in Kellogg to discuss how well human health and the environment are being protected from lead and other toxic metals.
EPA will hold a “scoping” meeting to explain its review process and take suggestions for improving it. The session will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Kellogg Middle School library, 810 Bunker Ave.
On Feb. 9, the Silver Valley People’s Action Coalition will hold a community meeting with guest speaker Joel Hirschhorn. As technical adviser for the watchdog organization, Hirschhorn has concluded that the Bunker Hill cleanup is incomplete, inadequate and fails to protect human health.
That meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the United Steelworkers Hall.
Coalition representatives will meet privately with EPA officials on Feb. 8 to discuss Hirschhorn’s findings.
The five-year review will include both the collection of samples from the field and a review of site-related documents. EPA officials expect to be finished with those tasks by September. The public will be invited to comment on the final report and recommendations.
The cleanup effort covers 21 square miles and began in 1995. Among the questions that evaluators hope to answer are:
Are the yard cleanups effectively protecting Kelloggarea residents?
Has EPA met its goals in reducing the level of lead found in children’s blood?
Are there risks posed by contaminants other than lead?
Are clean areas becoming recontaminated?
According to Hirschhorn, some homes within the Superfund site are still contaminated with heavy metals and lead dust, 18 years after the smelter shut down. His most recent report contends that containment areas at the site - especially the Central Impoundment Area and the Page Ponds - are poorly designed, thus risking the chance that toxic metals will leak out of them.