State Revises Cleanup Plan For River Washington Needs Idaho To Lower Levels Of Heavy Metals Pollution In The Spokane

Washington officials have submitted a new plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to manage heavy metals in the Spokane River.

The water cleanup plan sets limits, called total maximum daily loads, for heavy metals to protect aquatic life and water quality.

The plan’s success hinges on whether Idaho can quit maxing out pollution limits in the river before it crosses the state line, the Washington Department of Ecology says.

The Spokane River already flunks federal standards for lead, cadmium and zinc, due largely to past mining practices in Idaho, said Carl Nuechterlein, an Ecology water quality supervisor in Spokane.

That leads to a problem in Washington, where four major industrial and public sewer systems in Spokane County need to keep discharging some additional heavy metals into the river.

Instead of penalizing them for Idaho’s pollution by allowing no discharges, Ecology is proposing a way to allocate pollution rights while continuing work to clean up the river in both states.

The dischargers include the Liberty Lake and city of Spokane sewage treatment plants, Kaiser Aluminum’s Trentwood mill and the Inland Empire Paper Co. They account for only about 1 percent of the total metals in the river.

Dissolved levels of lead, zinc and cadmium in the Spokane River are 10 to 100 times higher than in any other river in Washington, Ecology experts say.

Washington’s new plan to clean up the river is one more step in a long and contentious fight over pollution in the Spokane River.

In 1998, the EPA rejected Idaho’s proposed limits for heavy metals as too lenient and ordered the state back to the drawing board. The proposed Idaho limits did not meet federal Clean Water Act standards, the EPA said.

In April, Idaho state regulators and the EPA jointly unveiled a new proposal for more stringent limits for the Coeur d’Alene Basin that would require all polluters to meet federal water quality standards.

Mining companies are fighting those limits, saying they will lead to the collapse of mining in Idaho. The Lands Council, a regional environmental group, supports the limits.

To meet the proposed limits, four operating hard-rock mines, sewage treatment plants at Page and Kellogg and the federal government’s Superfund cleanup site at the Bunker Hill mine all face potentially costly upgrades to reduce pollution in the watershed.

The EPA recently extended its public comment period on the proposed Idaho limits until Aug. 14.

EPA has 30 days to approve or reject the new Washington state proposal. Ecology expects approval because agency officials have been working cooperatively with EPA, said Ecology spokeswoman Jani Gilbert.

Copies of the plan may be obtained from Ken Merrill, (509) 456-6148, in Ecology’s regional office in Spokane.

MEETINGS River cleanup The Lands Council and Ecology have scheduled a public meeting on the Idaho heavy metals cleanup this Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Spokane County Regional Health District building, 1101 W. College, Spokane.