EPA: Has a place in Silver Valley

I am in favor of the current EPA cleanup in the Silver Valley, but I am not in favor of the current ROD amendment. So what's the difference? First, the EPA has done good things. No one who looks at photos from 20 years ago then rides along the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes can deny that things are cleaner and greener. And there is no doubt that sites such as the Interstate Callahan continue to load the South Fork with historic mine waste that is a health hazard.

But whether through negligence or sloppy staff work, the current amendment includes sites that do not need to be remediated either because the mines produced little or no minerals, so the tailings do not present a human health risk; or because such tailings are not near and do not load water supply; or the environmental damage caused by accessing them for remediation would be greater that the benefit of remediation. The document itself is flawed.

Our choices are simple. Submit meaningful public input naming specific sites we do not want to see remediated, with valid reasons why not. Become involved with the Basin Commission through the Citizens Committee and influence the implementation of the plan. Become politically involved, attend meetings and write your public representatives. Or sit back, and let the EPA enforce a poorly conceived plan at will in our home and on our children's future.

TROY LAMBERT

Kellogg