Chamber Told To Fight Adding Spokane River To Superfund List

Idaho business leaders warned Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce members that if the Spokane River is designated a federal Superfund site the stigma could threaten the area’s economy.

Dee Jameson urged Spokane Valley business owners on Monday to join his Coeur d’Alene-based group in fighting any plans to extend the Superfund site from Idaho’s Silver Valley to include Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River.

Jameson is the chairman of CLEAN, Community Leaders for EPA Accountability Now.

Jameson said any cleanup needed on Lake Coeur d’Alene and Spokane River beaches should be left to local and state leaders. A federal Superfund designation is unnecessary and the stigma and negative press would threaten an already struggling area, he said.

“We feel that this is a regional problem. It has a regional downside to it. And we need to stick together and we need to have a unified voice,” Jameson said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency’s national ombudsman is investigating the use of the Superfund designation in North Idaho and the plans for cleanup in the Coeur d’Alene River basin from Mullan, Idaho, to Lake Roosevelt in Eastern Washington. The ombudsman held a hearing at North Idaho College last weekend and will have another hearing in Spokane next month.

Lead and other heavy metals from a century of mining and smelting in the Silver Valley were washed down the Coeur d’Alene River and into the lake. Federal studies have shown the metals contamination also flowed down the Spokane River from the lake.

Health official have issued warnings for pregnant women and children, urging them to avoid exposure to sediments on Spokane River beaches between Plantes Ferry and Stateline. Also, the warnings said they should not eat whole fish caught in the Spokane River and limit the number of fish fillets.

Bret Bowers, also of CLEAN, told Valley Chamber members the EPA should concentrate its efforts at the source of the pollution, the 21-square-mile Bunker Hill Superfund site know as “the Box.” The areas downstream would be more easily managed if the source is cleaned, Bowers said.

“Superfund isn’t always the best way to go. Superfund cleanup is the last resort, if there is no other way to get cleanup done,” he said.

Spokane environmental activists, Spokane Regional Health District officials and Washington Gov. Gary Locke have said it is premature for concern about extending the Superfund site. An EPA study into the extent of the contamination and possible cleanup won’t be finished until next year.

Chamber members said they have opposed a Superfund designation for the river in the past.