State Lists Tentative Lead Levels Officials Decide To Match Bunker Hill Cleanup Numbers

How clean is clean?

The question haunting Silver Valley mine-waste cleanup has its first, preliminary answer.

If a new proposal from Idaho becomes reality, the following lead levels would trigger cleanup: 700 parts of lead per million in soil at recreational areas and 1,000 parts per million at people’s yards.

The state’s numbers, released without fanfare Wednesday, are preliminary.

State officials decided to match the trigger level used at the Bunker Hill Superfund site after an October meeting with Shoshone County commissioners and mayors.

Residential yards within the 21-square-mile site get cleaned up when they measure 1,000 ppm lead or more.

Nationally, the residential cleanup threshold is 400 ppm.

The local residents were concerned about the appearance of “cleaner” and “dirtier” communities, officials said.

“We got a strong message from folks they didn’t want to see different action levels used around the valley,” said Rob Hanson, mine waste program manager for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

The lower trigger level at popular camping and fishing spots serves to protect children who are most vulnerable to lead, Hanson said.

A study released last summer by the state called for a residential yard cleanup trigger level somewhere between 400 and 800 ppm lead.

State officials at the time cautioned the study was based purely on data, and not on public opinion or input.

People in the basin have made it clear they want to be able to fish and swim in local rivers. But until now, there’s been no hard number to guide when to start digging up contaminated soil.

If enacted, the state’s yard-soil level would trigger cleanup in a third of the yards in Mullan, a little more than that in Wallace and 11 percent of the yards in Osburn, according to Hanson.

The recreational soil level would trigger cleanup at numerous beaches in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the ultimate approval authority. Officials there said the state’s numbers are close to what EPA is considering.

“We need to do more brainstorming: What about the child that stays home 24 hours a day? Is this going to work for them?” said Sean Sheldrake, with EPA in Seattle. “But we’re very close.”

The lead level that governments eventually settle on will determine the extent of cleanup - and how much money mining companies and the government spend on cleanup.

The companies expressed disappointment at the state’s numbers.

Mines want cleanup triggered by elevated blood lead levels in kids. The companies oppose the “overall random 1,000 parts per million” cleanup trigger, said Holly Houston, executive director of the Mining Information Office in Coeur d’Alene. “It looks like the state has bought into EPA’s plan of action on this.”

Officials at the Washington Department of Ecology asked the EPA to come up with a separate screening level for beaches along the Spokane River.

The number they came up with was 700 ppm for recreational sites, according to John Roland, the agency’s hydrologist.

Roland said he was encouraged to see the recreation site numbers matching so closely.

“It’s clearly a first step in the evolution of cleanup alternatives,” he said.

Other strategies in the state’s plan - “Draft Preliminary Human Health Risk Management Strategy” - include:

* Reducing interior lead sources, such as lead paint.

* Forming task forces in each Silver Valley community to help guide cleanup.

* Health screening and school education.