50 years of Silver Valley pollution cleanup to be celebrated next week

KELLOGG — The Environmental Protection Agency will host a special ceremony next week commemorating 50 years of health and environmental work in the Silver Valley.

The EPA, along with the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission, the Department of Environmental Quality, Panhandle Health, and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, have spent the past five decades working to reclaim and remediate more than a century’s worth of mine waste. 

The Bunker Hill Superfund Site wasn’t designated by the EPA until 1983, but the events that kickstarted and put the area under a microscope began 10 years prior. 

In September 1973, a fire at the Bunker Hill Mine Smelter’s baghouse destroyed the smelter’s main pollution prevention. When the decision was made to operate the smelter without replacing the damaged baghouse, it released more than 800 tons of lead and other toxic heavy metals into the air over the next 11 months before it was shut down. 

These contaminants were deposited in the surrounding communities, hillsides, rivers and streams. According to EPA, it was the worst lead poisoning event in United States history.

This kicked off years of testing blood-lead levels in the children of the Silver Valley, with some of the results being the highest in record history, according to the CDC. 

“The cleanup didn’t start 50 years ago, but the baghouse fire brought to light the need for the cleanup,” BEIPC Executive Director Sharon Bosley said. “Since that time, there have been a lot of improvements made to restore the area.” 

Over the past 50 years, state and federal agencies have worked on rectifying the pollution. This includes remediating thousands of residential yards, removing waste material from abandoned mines, remediating and re-foresting the hillsides, replacing roads, and taking these contaminated materials to repositories where they can be sealed. They have also completed several large projects to restore waterways and streambanks, continuously treat contaminated mine discharge water, and restore fish and wildlife habitats. 

One of the larger projects, the recent expansion and upgrade at the Central Treatment Plant in Kellogg, has yielded significant results that will be discussed at the ceremony. 

“They’re seeing a great reduction in phosphorus, lead, cadmium and zinc,” Bosley said. “They will also be showing attendees a 30-year trend in the reduction of these heavy metals.”

The future of the cleanup efforts will also be discussed.

The commemoration of 50 years of work in the Silver Valley is open to the public and will be held 4 p.m. Wednesday at Noah’s Loft at Silver Mountain.