EPA plan is wrong for the region

It may surprise those Idaho residents who do not reside in Shoshone County to learn that those who do live there are fighting a proposed cleanup plan of the historic mine wastes that tinge the Silver Valley. For those of us who have studied the issue, however, it is really no surprise at all. The plan proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would have this federal agency, and the stigma that comes with Superfund, embedded within this region until the year 2100, at an estimated cost of $1.3 billion in today's dollars. Anyone out there care to hazard a guess as to whether $1.3 billion today will be the same as $1.3 billion in 90 years?

This is a complex issue and one of paramount importance to those who depend on this land and these mines for their livelihoods. The reality is that complex issues have complex solutions. In the case of EPA's proposed Upper Basin Cleanup Plan, though, we are still in need of a true solution. No one disputes that the Bunker Hill smelter did spew lead into the air and pollute the soil. This is a fact. But people need to understand that this proposed cleanup plan is not focused on the area around Bunker Hill. That area has already been remediated to EPA standards. Rather, this plan is focused primarily on removing zinc from the headwaters of the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, even though zinc does not represent a human health hazard. Let me repeat that; zinc is not a health hazard to humans.

EPA (and apparently the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality as well) have decided that this cleanup is ecological in nature, and that is a good enough reason to park in the Silver Valley for another century. Idahoans are smart people, though, particularly in the Silver Valley. And they have decided that the EPA's presence here for another 90 years, and their request for what amounts to a blank check from the taxpayers, the mining companies and the state of Idaho, is simply not acceptable.

It makes sense that those who live, work and play in an area should have a say in the management decisions made in that area. I am sad to say that EPA does not appear to take the comments of the residents into consideration when they write far-reaching, expensive plans of this nature.

Some folks would have you believe that this cleanup plan is a great thing, and the residents of the Silver Valley should just be quiet and let the federal government do what they want to do. I would challenge those folks to actually read the plan (available at http://go.usa.gov/igD) and tell me if you honestly think that the plan makes sense. I would also challenge them to think about whether it really makes sense to let a federal agency with no accountability run roughshod over the residents of the Silver Valley.

Jack Lyman is Executive Vice President of the Idaho Mining Association, a trade association that represents the state's major mining companies and companies that provide products and services to the industry.