DEQ approves Mica Creek cleanup

An Idaho Transportation Department plan to begin unclogging some of the sediment from the Mica Creek watershed has been approved by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.

Transportation Department spokeswoman Barbara Babic said work will begin later this year to stabilize the lower 900 feet of Mica Creek, as well as to restore nearby wetlands. The department will spend $25,190 on the project, which is expected to take place in late summer to minimize harm on aquatic life.

“We’ll be working within the environmental windows,” Babic said.

The agency’s recent project to widen U.S. Highway 95 caused torrents of mud to flow into Mica Creek and eventually into Lake Coeur d’Alene. An estimated 12 homeowners who draw water from Mica Bay had their water systems harmed by the turbidity. The plan offers to reimburse homeowners for their trouble, but provides no estimate on how much money will be available.

Last year the agency admitted the project sent sediment into the watershed, but Wednesday’s plan announcement sidestepped any mention of fault, error or mistake. The violations are described as “alleged,” and funds spent on corrective action are called contributions.

One portion of the corrective plan has the agency proposing to contribute $70,000 to the Idaho Department of Lands for sediment reduction projects in the North Fork Mica Creek watershed. This happens to be the same amount of money as the fines imposed by the Department of Environmental Quality for breaking state water purity laws.

“We believe the plan corrects the impacts the construction project may have caused,” according to a statement from Scott Stokes, the transportation department’s district engineer.

Although the agency appears to be satisfying demands set forth by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the Transportation Department is not off the hook. Two lawsuits relating to the sediment are just beginning to move through the court system.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could seek fines totaling more than $4 million, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in August. The lawsuit alleges more than 170 violations of the Clean Water Act.

Mica Bay homeowners also are suing the Transportation Department. An attorney for the group, Scott Reed, said efforts are continuing to expand the lawsuit into a class action.

Pat Swann, a plaintiff in the homeowners’ suit, said removing the thick blanket of sediment in the bay and creek will take a monumental effort. Although the Transportation Department says the hillside erosion has ended along the widened highway, Swann said she noticed a large plume of mud in the bay following the recent snowmelt. She was told the mud was the shifting of sediment already in the bay and creek.

“I imagine this will be an ongoing problem we’ll have to live with,” said Swann, a longtime resident of the Mica Bay shoreline.