Report Details Basinwide Damage Mining Pollution Has Left Some Tributaries Of The Coeur D’Alene Devoid Of Aquatic Life

In the late 1800s, fishermen pulled out so many fish from the Coeur d’Alene River system that a local news editor urged cutbacks to stem the glut of trout at the Wallace meat market.

A few decades later, hundreds of mines dumping tailings straight into the water had created a dead zone. Scientist M.M. Ellis in 1932 pronounced a 50-mile stretch downriver from Wallace essentially devoid of fish.

Today, some creeks in the basin are still so polluted they are devoid of aquatic life, according to a new report.

Experts testifying for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the federal government will use the report as scientific proof that Silver Valley mining companies are on the hook for at least $1 billion in mine waste cleanup costs.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Coeur d’Alene Tribe and U.S. Department of Agriculture compiled the report, which documents environmental damages from mine waste throughout the Coeur d’Alene River Basin.

The long-awaited “injury determination” was reached after seven years of data collection. Research begins with the classic study by M.M. Ellis and ends in 1999, incorporating work from numerous scientists and agencies.

Findings include:

More than 15,000 acres of the basin - the floodplain from Cataldo to Harrison - contain lead levels lethal to waterfowl. Scientists counted 682 dead birds and mammals between 1992 and 1997, and expect they missed many more. Tundra swans, Canada geese and mallards topped the list.

More than 113 miles of surface water are contaminated by toxic metals including Lake Coeur d’Alene, which exceeds water quality standards when floods wash metals into the lake. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year found that lake beaches are safe.

Trout populations reduced or eliminated by pollution in the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River and tributaries. Canyon and Ninemile creeks are nearly devoid of all fish below mining releases.

Evidence that zinc levels are causing cutthroat trout and salmon to avoid the Coeur d’Alene River altogether.

Despite modernizations at mines including tailings ponds in the 1970s, surface water tests don’t show declines in hazardous concentrations of metals.

Mining officials had not seen the report, quietly announced Sept. 29 in the Federal Register.

An industry spokeswoman said research by the companies shows that any contamination problem is limited and not basinwide.

The mere presence of metals does not indicate a problem, said Holly Houston, of the Mining Information Office in Coeur d’Alene.

“They think the ecosystem is still very healthy here,” Houston said. “The areas where there are some injuries, where there have been wildlife deaths, those will be addressed by the cleanup plans they’ve put up a settlement for.”

The extent of contamination in the basin makes it unique, according to Robert Foley, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland.

“I’ve seen injuries from oil spills and other types of contamination problems,” Foley said. “This happens to be a large site, it’s widespread in nature. There aren’t a lot of sites around the country to really compare it to.”

This report is different from others released in recent months because it is so comprehensive, researchers say.

“No one’s ever collected this amount of data on the contamination,” said Jack Gunderman, a biologist with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe

The report, however, did not address the effect of metals on human health. That job is being done by various agencies, including EPA, the state and Panhandle Health District, Gunderman said.

Researchers say the report points to cleanup priorities. Two of the biggest problems are: fish-killing zinc from Canyon and Ninemile creeks and the Central Impoundment Area at the Bunker Hill Superfund site; and lead from the contaminated floodplains along the lower Coeur d’Alene River.

State politicians are urging tribal and federal officials to accept a mining cleanup settlement of $250 million over 30 years. Otherwise, the lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in January.

Coeur d’Alene tribal elder Henry SiJohn used to tell biologists to get to the bottom of the tribe’s misgivings about mine pollution.

Phillip Cernera, the tribe’s lead biologist on the lawsuit, remembers SiJohn’s words:

“He’d say: `You people. We need to go out and collect the irrefutable data and show people what is really going on and what the tribe believes.’

“I think we finally did what Henry asked of us,” Cernera said Friday.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

ON THE WEB

Read the report

The Report of Injury Assessment and Injury Determination is available on the Internet at www.r1.fws.gov/ec/ Restoration.htm. A review copy is on file at the Coeur d’Alene Tribe NRDA office, 424 Sherman Avenue, Suite 306 in Coeur d’Alene. For a copy of a CD-ROM version, call (208) 667-4119.