Mining Firms Make Offer Kempthorne Hails Proposal Of $250 Million To Clean Up Metals; Other Parties Caught Off Guard
Silver Valley mining companies are offering $250 million over the next 30 years to clean up pollution in the Coeur d’Alene River basin.
The offer could let at least three mining companies off the hook of a billion-dollar lawsuit scheduled to go to trial this fall - if the deal is accepted by the federal government and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.
The money would pay to clean up “hot spots” of lead and other toxic metals, such as cadmium and zinc, from a century of mining and smelting in the Silver Valley.
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, flanked by North Idaho politicians, announced the offer at a news conference Wednesday morning.
“This may not be good news for a lot of attorneys,” Kempthorne said. “Our plan is to go out there and start cleaning it up.”
But the settlement is not a done deal, state officials acknowledged.
Wednesday’s announcement at Spokane International Airport caught many players in settlement talks off guard, including the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Coeur d’Alene tribal officials.
“To my knowledge, the tribe has not received anything in writing articulating the mines’ proposal,” said Ray Givens, attorney for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.
Pollution from the Silver Valley still travels through Lake Coeur d’Alene and into the Spokane River, a federal study found this year.
But the cleanup proposal is limited to Idaho, Kempthorne said.
Washington Gov. Gary Locke has not seen the mining company proposal but looks forward to working with Kempthorne, Locke said in a statement issued late Wednesday. A recent health advisory warns Spokane County residents that pregnant women and small children should not eat whole fish caught in the Spokane River because the fish contain elevated lead levels.
“Our citizens should be able to fish and swim in the Spokane River without worrying about contaminated sediments and fish,” Locke said Wednesday.
Kempthorne has met with federal, tribal and industry representatives over the last eight months. He also has urged Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman to sign off on a settlement in the next 60 days, he said Wednesday.
The money - put on the table at a Boise meeting two weeks ago - represents the first real offer from the companies. Top EPA, tribal, industry and state officials attended the meeting.
The deal also represents the most the companies can offer, said a spokeswoman for one firm involved.
“This is not a starting place,” said Vicki Veltkamp, with Hecla Mining Co. “We’re way beyond that, because this is a stretch.”
The other companies are Asarco Inc. and Coeur d’Alene Mines. Sunshine Mining and Refining Co. has been at the table, though the company is not officially named in connection with the offer, officials said.
At this point, the offer actually consists of $154 million over 30 years. Another $96 million is in the form of royalties tied to metals prices. It’s unclear whether the $96 million figure is as high as the companies are willing to go, even if metals prices go up.
The state is assuming all the companies will stay in business, said Michael Bogert, counsel to the governor.
If the mines’ offer fails, a lawsuit filed by the tribe and federal government against the mining companies goes to trial in November.
Estimates of the cost of cleanup throughout the Coeur d’Alene River basin range from $130 million to $3billion.
State officials plan to use the money at 10 or 15 smaller sites at a cost of $10 million or $15 million a year, according to Steve Allred, director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
The state plans to remove or cap contamination in the upper basin, and combat erosion of lead-laced soils from riverbanks with shoreline “armor” along the lower river, Allred said.
State Sen. Jack Riggs, a Coeur d’Alene physician, was among the local elected officials on hand to back the governor.
“Less than a year ago, I don’t know that anybody would have thought that this was possible,” Riggs said.