Deadline Extended For Metals Comments Public Has Until Aug. 14 To Give Opinions On Basin Limits

People have more time to weigh in on controversial - and complex - heavy metals limits for the Coeur d’Alene basin. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Idaho Division of Environmental Quality extended the public comment deadline from June 15 to Aug. 14.

A wealth of verbal and written requests prompted the 60-day extension, said Dick Martindale, EPA’s Coeur d’Alene-based community liaison. Federal law allows agencies to push back comment deadlines.

Proposed Total Maximum Daily Loads for lead, zinc and cadmium come with potentially sweeping impacts on municipal sewage treatment plants throughout the basin and for Silver Valley mines.

Roughly 700 people attended three recent public meetings in North Idaho, with some attending two or all sessions.

The comment extension didn’t surprise Martindale, he said, because the limits are drawing so much attention.

Public and industry complaints center around the federal water-quality standards used to develop the limits. State officials and the mines continue to press for locally lenient standards for the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, citing naturally high metals levels.

The nearly 100 pages of technical paperwork backing up the proposed limits is hard to read and chock full of data tables.

With federal officials pledging to consider economic hardship in the final version, the extra time buys additional chances for municipalities and industry to make a case for leniency.

“Collaborative decision-making will promote a healthier atmosphere for the implementation of any proposed regulations,” U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo wrote in a May 25 letter to EPA’s regional administrator, Chuck Clark. “An extension of the public comment period would be an important first step toward a collaborative solution.”

Martindale said federal and state staffers met Wednesday with sewage treatment plant operators.

Officials and mining company representatives also discussed future meetings during a public hearing Tuesday night in Osburn, he said.

The Osburn hearing, scheduled hastily last week after a Wallace meeting drew an overflow crowd of several hundred, attracted about 260 people.

This sidebar appeared with the story: FOR MORE DETAILS Copies of the proposed limit levels are available at the North Idaho College Library, Spokane Public Library, Harrison City Hall and Wallace Public Library. For more information, call (208) 664-4588.