Rep. McMillan brings back bill to boot EPA cleanup out of Silver Valley

Rep. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, will ask the House Environment, Energy & Technology Committee this afternoon to reintroduce a measure she proposed last year: A resolution demanding that the EPA be removed from Shoshone County, along with its Superfund designation, within five years, because allowing continuation of the Coeur d’Alene Basin cleanup would have a “devastating effect upon our mining industry.” Last year’s version, HCR 17 , was introduced, but never proceeded.

Asked why she’s bringing it back, McMillan told Eye on Boise, “Because we didn’t get anywheres with it last year. We still need to address the EPA issue.”

Last year, when the measure was freshman Rep. McMillan’s first bill, she said it really was from her son, Wallace attorney James McMillan, and she left it to him to explain it to a House committee. “He was the one that wrote it,” she said. “It just happened to work out that I got in this year, so I could introduce it.” James McMillan told lawmakers last year that enough cleanup has been done in the Silver Valley, and, “We need to tell them that this needs to stop.”