Epa Turns Down Request To Stop Cleanup Silver Valley Mining Companies Say Agency Should Wait For Suit To Be Resolved

The remaining three mining companies in the Silver Valley last week asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to halt efforts toward mine waste cleanup in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin.

The EPA on Wednesday turned the companies down flat, calling the request “unconscionable.”

Asarco Inc., Hecla Mining Co. and Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. asked the agency to stop work on a cleanup plan until after a huge mine pollution lawsuit is decided by a federal judge.

The case goes to trial in U.S. District Court in Boise on Jan. 22. The trial is scheduled to last up to three months.

“EPA should foreswear further remedial planning until it has the benefit of the Court’s decision in this trial,” states the Dec. 13 letter from Washington, D.C., attorney Peter J. Nickles, representing the companies.

One of the biggest court cases ever to come out of the Silver Valley, the trial marks the culmination of a lawsuit filed against mining companies in 1991 by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and joined in 1996 by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the letter, the companies argue that the government started planning cleanup in December 1997 “to obtain a litigation advantage for the United States.” The cleanup planning process is a continuation of the lawsuit, they charge.

The government counters that the mining companies were party to the cleanup plans when they began.

The cleanup and the lawsuit are separate issues, wrote Michael Gearheard, head of the EPA’s regional Superfund office in Seattle.

Regardless of the trial’s outcome, Gearheard said, “EPA must still determine the nature and extent of contamination in the Basin, and the best alternatives for addressing risks to human health and the environment.”

Along with putting off progress on cleanup plans, the mines also asked the EPA to indefinitely extend a Jan. 24 cutoff date for public comment on the cleanup plan, called a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study. The deadline comes two days after the trial starts, Nickles wrote.

He further wrote that the mines don’t have the resources to simultaneously prepare for trial and monitor cleanup plans.

“The requested extension is necessary as a matter of fundamental fairness …” the letter states.

The EPA contends the agency originally planned to release the final decision on cleanup by the end of this year.

Work on the cleanup plan was delayed by numerous factors, including an expansion of the state of Idaho’s role and extensions of public review periods requested, in part, by mining companies, Gearheard wrote.

Now a final decision isn’t expected until summer 2001.

Reaction on Thursday mirrored the deep schism between Idaho and Washington - and people - on the agency’s role in cleanup.

“Why am I not surprised?” asked Van Hegbloom, president of the United Steelworkers local that represents about 150 workers in Hecla’s Lucky Friday mine. “EPA doesn’t listen to your opinion. They nod their heads and go the other way.”

Hegbloom accuses the agency of inciting a “lead scare” to further its agenda.

The letters provoked the opposite reaction from a Spokane outdoor gear retailer.

Paul Fish, owner of Mountain Gear in Spokane, backed the EPA’s decision.

“That’s exactly right, I admire the EPA for doing that,” said Fish, who employs about 70 people.

“ I think at this point we’re hardpressed not to call it a lead problem,” he said. “The mining companies are first saying it’s not a problem, but on the odd chance it is a problem, we’re not responsible for it.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: EXTENSION REQUEST Comment deadline

Along with putting off progress on cleanup plans, the mines also asked the EPA to indefinitely extend a Jan. 24 cutoff date for public comment on the cleanup plan, called a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study.