Epa Rethinks Split In Basin Plan Idaho Leaders Complain That Two-Part Cleanup Strategy Could Hurt Settlement In Suit Against Mines

After a week of uproar, federal officials are reconsidering their decision to split cleanup plans for Silver Valley mining wastes into two parts.

The plan may be on hold until next spring, an Environmental Protection Agency spokesman said, contrary to an announcement a week and a half ago.

During a press conference March 22, the EPA said the agency had changed course slightly and was releasing the plan in two parts: one in December or January, the rest next spring.

The plan originally was slated for release in December.

Sen. Mike Crapo and other Idaho officials immediately blasted the announcement that they said came as a surprise, calling the approach piecemeal. They said the strategy threatens Idaho’s attempts to broker a settlement of a mining pollution lawsuit.

A new policy is in the works at EPA in Seattle, though no official word is expected until next week, said Mark MacIntyre, an agency spokesman.

“One option is delaying a few months, until March,” MacIntyre said. “There’s nothing concrete yet.”

To date, the federal cleanup study has cost $10.5 million, EPA’s basin cleanup coordinator Mary Jane Nearman said.

Crapo fired off a letter to EPA’s regional administrator on March 24, two days after the announcement, calling for the two-phase policy to be overturned.

“The latest step by the EPA cannot be seen as anything less than an attempt to undermine the state,” Crapo wrote to EPA administrator Chuck Clarke.

Idaho officials want to suggest a cleanup strategy for inclusion in the final plan. That can’t happen under the two-part plan release, they say.

The state’s ability to guide the cleanup in turn influences Idaho’s success in settling the 9-year-old lawsuit against mining companies, Crapo said. The mines favor the state’s site-specific cleanup approach over the EPA’s broader, more costly approach.

Clarke and Idaho Division of Environmental Quality director Steve Allred discussed the issue Wednesday. Neither was available for comment Friday.

The possible schedule change reflects ongoing tension between state and federal officials, as they wrangle with efforts to cooperate on Coeur d’Alene River basin cleanup.

In a move last summer questioned by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Washington state, the EPA and the Idaho DEQ agreed to work together on the cleanup plan. The tribe and Washington officials fear Idaho’s cleanup goals don’t go far enough to protect human health and the environment.

This sidebar appeared with the story: AT A GLANCE CLEAN joins chamber

Community Leaders for EPA Accountability Now!, also known as CLEAN, has become part of the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber board voted this week to add CLEAN to chamber programs. The chamber was instrumental in starting the group several years ago. The organization, which includes business and local government interests, supports state and local government control of mining waste cleanup in the Coeur d’Alene basin.

Bret Bowers, former executive director of Concerned Businesses of North Idaho, will head the CLEAN program at the chamber. He will continue as administrator of Concerned Businesses until that position is filled.