Residents can give input on waste repository

Residents and community members near Cataldo have 30 days to offer ideas on a proposed repository for hazardous mining waste.

Design of the East Mission Flats Waste Repository is 60 percent completed, and state and environmental officials hope to have a final plan in place after the public comment period ends.

Some work is under way at the site, where the state will amass about 446,000 cubic yards of lead-tainted soil and other mine waste and cap it with clean soil, plants and trees.

The materials will be hauled from homes and businesses along the river basin contaminated by decades of mining in the Silver Valley.

The newest design reflects a 202,000-cubic-yard reduction after several groups, including the Sierra Club, opposed building the repository just north of Interstate 90 and near the Cataldo Mission.

The original 62-foot-high design would have been visible from the old Mission, Idaho’s most-visited heritage site and the state’s oldest building. The new repository design tops out at 34 feet.

Public input about the design will be taken until Sept. 2. Ideas can be mailed to Andy Mork, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, 1410 N. Hilton, Boise, ID 83706.